The Other Brother – Another Look at the Prodigal Son
Everyone knows the story of the Prodigal son, right?
It’s pretty common in pop culture – even if you’ve never been to a church or, heck, even known a church-goer – you know this story. Dude takes his inheritance, before his father is even dead (how’s that for arrogance?) – runs off, blows his money, looking for love in all the wrong places, and winds up feeding pigs. Then he comes to his senses, realizes that his father treats the lowest of his servants better than this lousy pig owner is treating him, goes home (probably expecting the mother of all talking-tos, no less), only to have his father throw a party for him. (see for context)
Oh, and there’s a little bit about his brother, and jealousy.
But – this is all about God’s love for us, and how we can just run off, do what we want, and come back, and he’ll be thrilled to have us home, right?
Not so fast.
Let’s have a quick look at the other brother.
What happens with him? He sees his rash, younger brother ask for all his inheritance, and then run off into the world, with all the 
wisdom of an 18-year-old college student on a bender. The older brother, on the other hand, stays home, continues to work for his father, knowing full well that he is earning every last penny of his inheritance, and not running around like a little whelp. But then his brother returns! And with it, there is much celebrating and fanfare. And it’s not fair. He’s been loyal this whole time, with hardly ever a young goat to celebrate with, yet his father kills the best possible entree for his wretched brother?
He’s expecting wrath. He’s expecting a tirade from his father upon his brother – wailing and gnashing of teeth. Instead, he sees grace. He doesn’t know his father. He’s expecting the gift of his inheritance will come from his good works, and not from the grace and love of his Father. And when he sees his brother sinning, and filthy, and stinking of pigs, and yet, still celebrated and welcomed home, he grows resentful.
“Were my good works not enough, Father? Did I not please you with my actions?”
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11 And he said, “There was a man who had two sons. 12 And the younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of property that is coming to me.’ And he divided his property between them. 13 Not many days later, the younger son gathered all he had and took a journey into a far country, and there he squandered his property in reckless living. 14 And when he had spent everything, a severe famine arose in that country, and he began to be in need. 15 So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him into his fields to feed pigs. 16 And he was longing to be fed with the pods that the pigs ate, and no one gave him anything.
17 “But when he came to himself, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have more than enough bread, but I perish here with hunger! 18 I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. 19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Treat me as one of your hired servants.”’ 20 And he arose and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him. 21 And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ 22 But the father said to his servants, ‘Bring quickly the best robe, and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet. 23 And bring the fattened calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate. 24 For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.’ And they began to celebrate.
25 “Now his older son was in the field, and as he came and drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing. 26 And he called one of the servants and asked what these things meant. 27 And he said to him, ‘Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fattened calf, because he has received him back safe and sound.’ 28 But he was angry and refused to go in. His father came out and entreated him, 29 but he answered his father, ‘Look, these many years I have served you, and I never disobeyed your command, yet you never gave me a young goat, that I might celebrate with my friends. 30 But when this son of yours came, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him!’ 31 And he said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. 32 It was fitting to celebrate and be glad, for this your brother was dead, and is alive; he was lost, and is found.’” (ESV)
It’s Been a While Old Friend
You know how, when you haven’t talked to someone in a long time, it can get more and more difficult to pick up the phone and call them? You know that the list of things that you will need to catch up on is just so long that even the idea of starting the conversation is exhausting. Relationships are like that – they take work. You can’t just count on the number next to the word “friends” in your Facebook profile to be an accurate representation of how healthy your relationships are!
Your relationship with God is not much different, honestly. A relationship is a relationship in any capacity, and they need work. It’s 
exhausting to be the only friend in a friendship that has any desire to reach out to the other – eventually that relationship is going to wither and die; you’re going to get tired of reaching out to the other person, and that other person isn’t getting anything out of the relationship due to their lack of reciprocation. The good news, though, for a relationship with God, is that He doesn’t get tired – He will continue to pursue you.
We are to maintain our ‘half’ (it’s far less than half, really. maybe around 1/10^23rd, or so) of our relationship with God, and the easiest way to do that is through prayer and reading His Word. That’s why it’s there, after all – it’s a way to communicate with us – to explain to us how things are, how they should be, and what we are called to do while we are here on this earth. Trouble is, if you’ve been away for a while, it’s hard to pick it up again, be it from feeling guiltly, or the crushing weight of unconfessed sin.
God, though, welcomes you with open arms, and is always ready to answer the phone after even the longest silence.
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Let Every Endeavor Be One of Worship
“O LORD, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!
You have set your glory above the heavens.”
[ESV]
I remember once hearing of an anecdote about a particular monk in a monastery. This particular monk was in charge of cleaning the dishes after the meals were served, and would, naturally, spend quite a bit of time before the sink in the kitchen, scrubbing pots and pans, a task to most that is not only not very enjoyable, but pretty difficult and taxing. This monk, however, had a completely different way of looking at it – he had installed, above his sink, a plaque that read “Worship held here three times daily.”
He approached even this most mundane task with the idea that it should be done with a sense of worship. Now, we can speculate as to 
the the nature of this plaque – did he put it there as a way to “force” himself to remember to worship? Was he trying to make it seem like it wasn’t so bad? Or was he really just so in touch with God that every single thing that he did, he presented it before the Lord as a task worthy of worship? We can’t really know the answer to that – but it should give us pause to think about the way that we approach our relationship with the Lord.
God calls us to worship Him in all things… so then, what is worship, especially in this context? If we go by a dictionary, we see “Show reverence and adoration for (a deity); honor with religious rites,” and this isn’t a bad description. What would it look like if you showed reverence to God in everything you did? What would it look like if, when you were talking to you neighbor, you did it for God’s Glory? What if, when you were talking about your neighbor, you did so for His Glory?
It doesn’t matter if you’re mowing the lawn, changing a diaper, or driving to work, all things can be done in worship and service to God.
Worship well.
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8:1 O Lord, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!
You have set your glory above the heavens. (ESV)
Edwards’ Resolutions, #14 – Revenge
Resolved, never to do anything out of revenge.
This is part of an ongoing series on the resolutions of Jonathan Edwards.Edwards’ fourteenth resolution focuses on something that affects every single person – anger. Sure, it’s talking about revenge and all that, but there’s something that has to happen before one would take revenge – they need to feel like they’ve been wronged, justifiably
or not. Once someone wrongs you, you have three choices – you can forgive them, you can hold a grudge, or you can exact your revenge (I know at least one person will say that there is a fourth option – to just move on – but that’s forgiveness, unless, of course, you move on while holding a grudge… which isn’t exactly moving on).
Revenge is a hate filled, anger driven reaction. It’s vile, and serves no purpose other than personal vindication. Entire generations of families have been slaughtered by revenge – the Hatfields and the McCoys are a prime example. We are called to forgive those who have wronged us (, , , to name a few), and to “be slow to anger” [, ESV, Partial]. A man who does not have malice and self-righteousness in his heart and does not become angry will not have the desire to take revenge.
There was a story that was going around some years back about a family who not only forgave the killer of their son, but they essentially adopted him as their own. There was this boy, driving drunk – essentially showing off to his friends how drunk he was – who collided with another car, killing the driver. At first, the other driver’s parents wanted nothing more than to kill this kid, but over time they grew to a place where he is essentially their second son. Instead of taking revenge, they forgave him, wholly and completely. Instead of holding a grudge, they truly moved on.
We should be resolved to forgive others (, , for a few) , not to exact revenge when we have been wronged, and not to forgive just once, but as many times as necessary (). Forgiveness is a process and a conscious decision, not just “moving on.”
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32 Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you. (ESV)
25 And whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father also who is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.” (ESV)
14 For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, (ESV)
19 Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; (ESV)
32 Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you. (ESV)
9 Do not repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, bless, for to this you were called, that you may obtain a blessing. (ESV)
21 Then Peter came up and said to him, “Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?” 22 Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you seven times, but seventy times seven. (ESV)
Everything is Richer – Finding Joy
“4 I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus, 5 that in every way you were enriched in him in all speech and all knowledge— 6 even as the testimony about Christ was confirmed among you— 7 so that you are not lacking in any gift, as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ, 8 who will sustain you to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. ” –
Everything is richer to those who know the Lord. One who truly knows and loves Christ should find joy in everything that he faces (). God brings to us a whole new way of looking at the world.
A lot of this mindset has to do with control, really. When approached from a secular standpoint – when the whole of creation is seen as nothing more than causality, one has limited responses to how they can deal with unfortunate or difficult situations: either you can be filled with despair, or you can simply decide to power through the situation, and come out better or worse on the other side. If, however, one were to face the same situation together with a relationship with God, you find that there is a much better option: trusting that God is in control and that there is a greater purpose at work than just random dumb luck and misery.
God uses events in our lives for different purposes. Perhaps, as an unbeliever, misery happens to draw you in, to make you question if there is a God. Perhaps not. As a believer, the loss of a business or family member (not… exactly the same thing, I know) can be faced with the knowledge that God is sovereign, and we can rest in Him, and in the knowledge that He is good.
When you are in communion with God, when you are seeking Him out each day, and spending quality time with Him, then you will find that the good things become greater, the bad things become bearable, and that there is an everlasting hope that underlines the base of every catastrophe, and you can hear, experience, and witness that joy, that hope, in the heart and voice of a believer who is trusting in the greatness of God
For a wonderful example of the juxtaposition of misery and the hope of everlasting joy, Page CXVI has a performance of “I’ve got the Joy” that shares this feeling in a way that mere words on a page never could. Check it out if you’d like! Joy by Page CXVI 
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4 I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus, 5 that in every way you were enriched in him in all speech and all knowledge— 6 even as the testimony about Christ was confirmed among you— 7 so that you are not lacking in any spiritual gift, as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ, 8 who will sustain you to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. (ESV)
2 Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, 3 for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. 4 And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. (ESV)
General Revelation
God’s General Revelation – No one has an excuse
“But what of those who have never heard of the Gospel? What about those who have never even known that He could exist?”
God’s presence is everywhere within His creation. It makes sense, really – if you were to paint a portrait, no matter how good it is – you’re going to leave some sign that you were there, be it some little signature you leave behind, or perhaps, just how good or bad of a painting it is overall. Creation is much the same way, just as you can clearly identify a Dutch Master or a Warhol, often with a quick glance. Paul shares this insight with us in : “For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.” [ESV]
You cannot look upon creation and not see the hand of God. You may not recognize it as such, immediately or ever, but it remains the
case that even “the heavens declare the Glory of God” [, ESV]. God’s fingerprints are everywhere. When an unbeliever contemplates a moral decision, when he is faced with a dilemma of right versus wrong, he is witnessing proof of God, and the very law within him. (see ) The coherence and natural order of the world, of the solar system, of the very universe shows us that there was care and intentional, intelligent design. The very creation in which you currently reside resounds with so much evidence of a God, that to deny Him is pure arrogance, not unlike standing before van Gogh and telling him that he did not paint Starry Night.
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20 For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. (ESV)
19:1 The heavens declare the glory of God,
and the sky above proclaims his handiwork. (ESV)
16 on that day when, according to my gospel, God judges the secrets of men by Christ Jesus. (ESV)