Isn't it true that it's easy to gloss over our own faults when the faults in others seem so glaring?
And it's never easier to see those comparisons than in family dynamics. Well, today I've got a story for you about two brothers that you don't want to miss. Welcome to this Edition of Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram. Living on the Edge features the Bible teaching of Chip Ingram on this daily discipleship program.
I'm Dave Drewy. In this program, Chip continues his series, The Prodigal and the Perfectionist, with a look at family dynamics that may feel a little too close to home. The truth is, we all have struggles. The question is, how do we put things on a better path and find the hope we're looking for? If you have a Bible, open it now to Luke chapter 15, and let's join Chip as he answers that question.
I was teasing someone over in the coffee shop. I said, I'm going to do another really long series on grace soon because this one's helping me so much. And, you know, I don't know about how you get your arms around this, what grace really is. I mean, I can define it as God's generosity in action to meet my deepest needs, totally apart from my performance.
But I jotted a few thoughts here that maybe will help you by way of what is grace, kind of getting your arms, mind around it. You desire great things for me, God, and from me, but your expectations are reasonable. You're mindful that I am but dust, magnificent dust made in your image. But as a result, you're patient, you're understanding with me.
You know about my struggles. When I purposely rebel, and some of you think kind of pastors live in a different world, believe me. We purposely rebel and reject your love, your plans, and your will for my life. You graciously and lovingly provide pain, no peace in my heart, and ever increasing consequences to prompt me to come to my senses, to return to you.
And then when I do, you don't keep your anger or hide your face from me. When I come with an honest and a humble heart, the broken and contrite spirit. When I find myself far from you, or the enemy bombarding me, and the evil of this fallen world, and I feel in absolutely impossible situation. Your ears strain to hear my cry for help, and your feet run to meet me in my desperate situation, even when it's one of my own making. This is what grace is. It's not a concept, it's not energy, it's not theory. It's the generosity of God in action that seeks my highest good, meets my greatest needs, and delights in me.
He's for me, totally apart from anything I could do, or anything I've ever done. Grace is free, undeserved, counterintuitive. It's the disposition of the infinite creator of the universe toward me expressed most clearly and personally in the person of God the Son, Jesus Christ.
That's grace. I want to ask and answer the question why the good news isn't good anymore. I mean, that's the Bible word for gospel, or it just means good news, literally it means happy news. The early church simply went around proclaiming, do you understand that the God who made all that there is in the second person of the Trinity came to earth, was born of a virgin, lived an absolutely perfect life, healed the sick, raised the dead, opened the eyes of the blind, healed the lame, died in your place for your sin, rose from the dead, you're forgiven, and they went and announced this happy news, God loves you.
That's why he came. But somewhere along the line, this happy news became religion and oughts and shoulds and hypocrisy. For those that are 29 years and under in America, when they hear, oh, you're a Christian, an evangelical, one of those born again types.
That's the perception. How did the good news become that? So are you ready? Are you ready to return to our story? The occasion, we begin in Luke chapter 15.
You ready? Here's the story. Now the tax collectors and the sinners were all gathered around to hear him. But the Pharisees and the teachers of law muttered, this man welcomes sinners and even eats with them. Then Jesus told them this parable, one parable, three stories. Suppose one of you has 100 sheep and loses them, loses one of them. Does he not leave the 99 in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, rejoice with me. I've found my lost sheep.
Spiritual application. I tell you in the same way, there's more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over 99 righteous persons who do not need to repent. Story number two to make the same point. Or suppose a woman has 10 silver coins and loses one. Does she not light a lamp and sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it? And when she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbors together and says, rejoice with me. I've found my lost coin and that coin would be probably a part of her dowry.
It would be a day's wage. Story number one, something is lost out in the wilderness of value. Story number two, something is lost inside the house of much greater value.
Story number three, something is lost inside the home of infinite value. Jesus continued, there was a man who had two sons. The younger one said to his father, father, give me my share of the estate. So he divided his property between them.
Not long after that, the young son got together all that he had. Literally, he cashed out and went to a distant country and squandered his wealth in wild living. After he'd spent everything there, there was a severe famine in the whole country and he began to be in need. So he hired himself out to a citizen of that country who sent him to the fields to feed pigs. He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything.
Breaking point. When he came to his senses, he said, how many of my father's hired men have food to spare? And I'm here starving to death. I will go back to my father and say to him, father, I've sinned against heaven and against you. I'm no longer worthy to be your son.
Make me like one of your hired men. So he got up and he went to his father. Intervention. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him. He was filled with compassion. He ran to his son.
He threw his arms around him and he kissed him literally repeatedly. The son said to the father, I've sinned against heaven and against you. I'm no longer worthy to be called your son. But the father said to his servants, quick, bring the robe, the best one, and put it on him.
Put a ring on his finger, sandals on his feet. Bring the fatted calf and kill it. Let's have a feast and a celebration. For the son of mine was dead and is alive again. He was lost and he's found. So they begin to celebrate. Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. He came near the house and he heard the music and the dancing. We get our word for symphony from music and it's literally a picture of around a little village house and the entire village has showed up.
And there's dancing and there's music and there's food and there's excitement. So he called to one of the servants, literally one of the teenage boys, and asked him, what's going on? Your brother's come, he replied, and your father has killed the fatted calf because he has him back safe and sound.
And the older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him. But he answered his father, look, all these years I've been slaving for you. I've never disobeyed your orders, yet you never gave me a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fatted calf for him. My son, interesting word.
It's the most gentle word he could use for its tenderness. My son, you're always with me and everything I have is yours. But we had to celebrate and be glad because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again.
He was lost and is found. As we look at this passage, we're going to discover how people miss the grace of God. The occasion, remember by way of review, is that Jesus is being criticized by the religious leaders, the Pharisees. They have large portions of the Old Testament completely memorized. They fast on Tuesdays and Fridays regularly. They tithe 10% of all they have down to the herbs and spices of everything that they own. They are squeaky clean morally. They have long prayer shawls and they stand on corners and recite prayers out loud.
They are the people that are, they're intellectual, they have the power, and they have wealth. And Jesus comes now claiming to be God. Multitudes are thronging around him, the common people hear him gladly, and he's hanging out with notorious sinners, tax collectors, prostitutes, irreligious, immoral, far from God, unholy, contaminated people. And the religious leaders are thinking he's shaming God. And so this story is to correct their thinking about God and how God feels about people. So what did this story teach about God's heart for lost people? The younger son receives, ready, grace. Grace.
It's just an amazing picture. God loves us. He just loves us. The father wants relationship with the son. The robe is his robe.
The ring is the financial family signet room. The sandals are you're a son. The fatted calf was a celebration. It's not a celebration for the son, it's the father's celebration.
It's what he has back. The son receives grace, but the father receives the son's shame. He's viewed as someone, this would never happen ever in Middle Eastern village, today or then. The father's embarrassed himself. He's run with his robe showing his legs. He's forgiven the young kid who ought to be beaten. The elders who would have come if the father wouldn't have got there could have had the ability to stone him. He's received all the shame on him. He's told the servants, put my robe on him so the servants who would be ticked off, all they could say was, if our masters received him, who are we?
And so that was the first part of the story of the younger brother. And by the way, here's the deal. That's how God feels about everybody. I just want you to think of the people that in your mind maybe, I don't know what the category is, I don't know what they look like, I don't want your experience, but I want you to think of people that you think, oh, they're so distasteful to you. You so would not want to be around these kind of people, whoever these kind of people are. And I just want to remind you, God says, I love them.
I'm passionate, I made them, I created them, I died for them. Now we move to Jesus' message to the elder brothers, the Pharisees of that day. And as we do that, let me just give you a little bit of historical background.
We read the passage. It's interesting, the narrative here, he makes it very clear that this transition is there's this party going on, and as the party's going on, and you can imagine the people, you know, they're locked arms and they're dancing and there's a little musical band and there's cymbals. And I mean, it's the fire is blazing, the interesting, the little servant boys, the teenagers and preteens would not be allowed to go in, they're not old enough yet unless they've been through their bar mitzvah and stuff. And so the adults are there and there's food and there would be a big head table, and at the head table is where the father would sit, and then all the dignitaries and the elders and people would be out here. The oldest son's job at a celebration was to be the major dean, and he would stand representing the family so the father could be free to get up and interact with people. And that was the older son's role, and that will be very important later, because this older son will disrespect and diss his father equally like the younger son did.
He'll just do it in a different way. And so we pick up the story and it says, meantime, the older son comes, and in a village like this, if you heard dancing, you would be excited. It's a celebration. Something's happened. And instead of moving right in, because this older son is revealing his attitude, he has a master-servant relationship with his dad.
I've slaved for you all these years. So he hears about a big party, and instead of excitement, he has suspicion. Who could be having a party? Secondly, you need to remember one-third of the estate was given to the young son, and he's blown it. Two-thirds of the estate is the older son's.
But the father owns that and can spend it, however, but every dollar that is spent before the father dies is decreasing the estate. So all he knows is there's the big party, and parties cost a lot of money, and the fatted calf, and I mean, we're blowing out the doors, and all this means is I'm going to get less and less and less after dad dies, if that tells you a little bit of his mindset. So he calls one of the little teenage boys and says, hey, what's going on in there? And then tells him the story. But he uses an interesting word. He says, your brother has come back safe and sound. That's actually one Greek word.
And that Greek word, when it's translated in the Old Testament, is translated shalom, or peace. It's not that your younger brother came back, and now he's doing restitution, and he's got a payment plan, and he's been at least beaten or reproved. I mean, that's what the older son would expect.
He screwed up, he did this, he did this, he did this. Now he's got to pay it back. The young one just comes and says, well, he's shalom'd with your father. Well, that means reconciliation has happened.
How could that have happened? And now there's a party, and my estate's shrinking, as dad uses my money to honor it. You see it? See, this is how the Pharisees see life. It's how they see what's happening.
And so these little villages, everyone's involved in what's going on. And now the father does something completely unheard of, and as the Pharisees are hearing this, they would know this would never happen. When the father comes out, he doesn't get even the title, Oh Father. He doesn't even say that it's not his brother, it's your son. The older brother had responsibility for reconciliation.
He didn't care about the younger son, and he didn't care about the father. And so he stays outside, and word is the older brother's outside. Everyone knows he's so disrespected as father, the father does the unthinkable. He goes outside, and in the Middle Eastern culture, as he's telling this story, he's going to go outside, and he's going to say, in and do your job, enough, or have him beaten, have him tied up, we'll deal with him later.
That's exactly what they would expect. And instead, just as the father took on the shame of the younger son, in order that relationship could happen. Notice his words, teknon, I, my son. And literally he's pleading with him, come inside, take your role. Be a part of the family.
The younger son was lost in a distant land, and he came home. You've been in the home, but there's no relationship. Come close. Be a part of the family. Accept my love.
It's not about your performance. I've, listen to his words, I've never disobeyed you. You've never given me. And the father goes, I've never given you? All that I have is yours.
It's been available. You see, elder sons are legalistic. Elder sons are performance driven. Elder sons have a transactional relationship with, quote, their father or God.
It's not personal. Older sons are demanding, and older sons don't understand grace, and so they see that's not fair. This older son is as lost as the younger son. The younger son wanted not his father, but what the father could give him.
The older son didn't want the father either, but just what the father could give him. And the Pharisees are listening to this story, and they're acutely aware that the younger son are the prostitutes and the tax collectors, and the older sons are them. A couple things we learned from this older son scenario is that very good moral religious people who believe the Bible can be as lost as the most immoral sinner. Let me say that again.
Very good sincere religious people who believe intellectually the Bible can be as lost as the most immoral sinner. An elder brother life can be just as miserable as the pig pen of the younger brother. You see, elder brothers feel like they're in a slave relationship. Elder brothers have, I have to do all these things. I'm responsible all the time. I don't measure up unless I do all these things for God. Elder brothers are often angry at God. Life isn't working out.
I did this, you're supposed to do that. They're often very angry with themselves privately. They live with a lot of condemnation. I found in the years that I've been a pastor, when I meet people with elder brother symptoms, and boy, do I get it. I mean, I've had an elder brother part of my journey that is so ugly when you see it.
But I find they're often depressed because they're angry, and they never measure up. I discovered too that many older brothers, if you live in this transaction relationship with God, and it's all these things you have to do, since no one can do it, there's often a break that occurs. It probably would be a good time to stop and say, I wonder how we could recognize older brother tendencies. Because I will tell you, here's my concern.
I think this is one of the most serious passages, serious truths we'll ever talk about. When you're a younger brother and you're lost, you know what the good news is? You know you're lost. I mean, you know you're lost.
I mean, the only reason that he came back, well, he hit rock bottom. And if you talk to people, then any kind of 12-step program, they'll just tell you. Until you get to where you really get, I can't do this, you never get better.
But when you're an older brother, you're living under the delusion that everything's okay. In fact, God owes you. The Pharisees were the most religious people, and they were farther from God because they were unaware of their need. You've been listening to part one of Chip's message, Refusing Grace, from his series, The Prodigal and the Perfectionist. Chip's exploring the elusive concept of grace, helping us discover the depth of God's love, so crucial to understanding that our failures are never final when we bring them to Him. Chip brings Jesus' teaching to life, looking first at the heart of a merciful father, and then his two sons, one a prodigal, the other a perfectionist. As you listen, you'll likely see a little of yourself in each of these guys.
The question is, are you positioned to receive the grace your Heavenly Father is willing and able to lavish on you? We hope you'll engage the question and continue the journey by digging into the messages of this series, The Prodigal and the Perfectionist. To listen again or to check out the resource options, go to livingontheedge.org, call 888-333-6003, or tap Special Offers on the Chip Ingram app. Chip, you know, I was thinking as I listened to this program that there are countless people out there listening who have real needs. As Living on the Edge continues to buy airtime and create new programming and develop resources that speak to those needs, the expenses of the ministry are a monthly issue. I think it's fair to say that a lot of people may have considered partnering with us financially, but then they might think that if they can't give something substantial, their gift won't really make much of a difference.
You know, Dave, really only about 2% of all the people that listen partner with us financially in any way. And I think sometimes it's because they just don't think what I could do would make a difference. But I just want to encourage some of you that feel like, you know, hey, you know, boy, God's really using this in my life, but I'm just not in a position. Maybe you could do something really small, but God could take your small gift and do something really big with it. So, you know, thanks so much and appreciate anything God leads you to do. Well, as you prayerfully consider your role with this ministry, I want to remind you that when you partner with Living on the Edge, every gift is significant. When you stand with us financially, our ministry efforts and resources are multiplied in ways that only God can do. Now, to send a gift, call us at 888-333-6003. Or if you prefer to give online, just go to livingontheedge.org. App listeners, tap donate. Your partnership is a great encouragement.
Well, now here's Chip. As we close today's program, I've tried to share pretty honestly about my older brother experience and I can't help but believe that many, many, many of you realize, you know something, you got a lot of older brother in you and this is the kind of message and the kind of series that it gets really clear and you go, oh God, oh yes, I need to live by grace and I'm not only saved by grace, but I have to live by grace and it's so refreshing and it brings freedom and here's the deal. Thirty days from now, you will be right back to living the same old way because you have to renew your mind. So could I encourage you, get the information and renew your mind.
Listen to this series three or four or five times. Listen to it until it gets down into your bones, down into the marrow of who you are, where you really get, I love you. Not because you've done something, not if you do something. I love you because I have done something. I sent my son in your place. I've paid for your sin. I've deposited my Holy Spirit in you. I've adopted you as my child. You have an inheritance. I've given you spiritual gifts. You have a purpose for your life now. Let's do it together. That's the Christian life.
Now go live it. As we wrap up, I want to remind you that the Chip Ingram app is a great way to immerse yourself in more biblical truth like what you've just heard. You can listen to any of Chip's teaching series or dive deeper into God's Word with Chip through Daily Discipleship. We desire to help Christians really live like Christians. So let me encourage you to download the Chip Ingram app today and allow us to support you in your walk with God. Well until next time, this is Dave Druey saying thanks for listening to this Edition of Living on the Edge.
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