The first aspect about Jesus in this story we must understand is who He’s trying to reach and why. At the beginning of Luke 15 we see the Pharisees and scribes complaining about Jesus receiving tax collectors and sinners around Him. In response to this complaint 15:3 says, “So He spoke this parable to them”. Therefore, Jesus’s primary audience for this story isn’t the younger son but rather the older son. All too often the younger son gets the attention through this story because his sin is open to see and is rather blatent. The older son looks like the good son and so fly’s under the radar. The Pharisees and scribes were the very people the older son represents…Folks, many people in our churches today are the very people the older son represents. Jesus was telling this story for them. Jesus was trying to tell them they were lost and didn’t know it; they thought they were the good son who “earned” something from the Father. My friends, I beg you to look at your life and ask the Lord to reveal if you’re living an older son life. If you are, Jesus is telling this parable for YOU! Not to condemn you but to find you.

Jesus delivered this story to the religious elite about the religious elite. Think about what He’s saying and doing here. Jesus is addressing someone like a Billy Grahm or a Dr. Dobson here and telling him that he’s lost. (I’m not saying Billy Grahm or Dr. Dobson are lost, I don’t know them that well) That is huge. Jesus is telling him that noone is without need of the Father. My friends, unfortunately we can fall into the same trap as the Pharisees. As we grow in the church we can all too easily begin thinking we’ve got it all figured out. Usually this arrogance begins to creep in when we see younger sons but it creeps in none the less. We’ve become proficient at hiding this arrogance in false humility because we’ve learned through the church that we should be humble if we’re to be good “christians”. The lesson Jesus is teaching us in the parable is this: The most important aspect of life is close fellowship with the Father simply to be in His presence, not to get His inheritence. Close fellowship with the Father results in a deep love for people. (John 13:34-35) Do you love other people? Not just your friends and family but all people. Here’s a better question, Do other people think you love them? In other words, are you viewed in your community as a loving person? I’ve met a lot of good people in the church who really don’t enjoy other people, let alone love them. Folks, if you’re living a life void of joy, if you’re living a life void of love for others, you may be a lost older son.

Here’s the beauty of Jesus the story teller. Jesus told this particular crowd two stories prior to this one. He told them about the lost sheep and then the lost coin. In both stories someone went out in search for the lost item. This concept is carried over into the story of the lost sons. Folks, the Father is coming out to find us. Both sons had the Father come out to find them. If you’re living a life without close, deep, and intimate fellowship with the Father I’m telling you that He’s searching for you right now! If you aren’t experiencing a passionate relationship with God you’re lost. It’s ok to be lost as long as you realize you’re lost. The Father welcomes you back with open arms. Friends, I beg you, please, consider your current position and run to the Father. AMEN!

First, we must understand the background of the story in which the older son is set. In Luke 15:12 we find the father dividing his inheritence between the two sons. Culturally, he would have divided everything he owned into thirds. The younger son would have received one-third and the older son two-thirds. The younger son took his third and went away to waste all he’d been given. The older son remained with the father and continued to work. We see the older son in verse 25 working in the field when he hears the sound of music and dancing.

The older son sends a servant to inquire what the music and dancing are for. He finds out his younger brother has returned and the father is throwing a party for him in honor of his return. Now understand, the father has already divided all the inheritance and the younger son spent all of his. Therefore, anything the father gives the younger son is coming from the perceived inheritance of the older son. Need less to say, the older son is not too happy about this. In fact, verse 28 says, “But he was angry and would not go in.”

Friends, I would imagine many of you can sympathize with the older son’s anger. However, let me lay out the facts: The father is throwing a feast and the older son refuses to come in. Compare this with Luke 14:18-24. Of the people who refused to come into the feast God says, “For I say to you that none of those men who were invited shall taste my supper.” (Luke 14:24), also, the son is upset because he believes he is due a certain amount of inheritance, and finally, the older son chooses to place his inheritance above his relationship with his father. Do you see that the younger son is lost but the older son is lost also?

The two sons represent the two ways we are lost from God. The younger son lived an open life of rebellion and only cared for the father based on the material things the father could give him. The older son lived a life of labor in the fathers field in an effort to attain the material things the father could give him. Do you see? Both sons only desired the things the father had to offer…neither desired the father for his relationship. The older son represents many in the church today.

Are you living a life of service just to get stuff from God? Are you trying to earn your way to heaven or even simply the approval of God? Look at the older son’s argument to the 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. But as soon as this son of yours came, who has devoured your livelihood with harlots, you killed the fatted calf for him.”

Do you see the older son’s belief that he ‘earned’ something from the father through his righteous living? Have you spent many years laboring for the Lord and now believe God ‘owes’ you something? The older son represents a very dangerous place to be lost. All too often, the older sons in our churches today are blind to their lostness because they’re in the fathers field. Are you bitter at your lot in life? Do you wonder why others seem to be blessed by God while you’re not? Do you think you deserve more blessings from God based on the work you’ve done for Him?

Friends, I beg you to consider that the older son didn’t enter the fathers feast. Humble yourselves and understand that a relationship with the Father is to be desired above all else. Only when we seek to be in His Grace and understand we don’t earn anything can we rest in His presence and enjoy the fatted calf that has always been ours for the taking. The Father desires to lavish us with all His livelihood but when we seek to earn it we remove ourselves from the inheritance. Surrender your religious living today and humbly fall at His feet. Accept His Grace and give up your pursuit of a life that’s ‘good enough’. AMEN!