Have you been on the run from God lately? Before you answer, let me describe two ways we run from God. The first is by breaking the rules (riotous living) and the second is by keeping the rules (religious living). There is no better place to see both of these errors in action than in the parable of the prodigal son.
It’s easy to miss the fact that both sons were running from God. The son who demanded his inheritance and took off for the far country, wasting all of his time, talent, and treasure on riotous living is easy to spot. But what about the son who stayed behind? How could he have been on the run from God? Let’s take a look.
Now his older son was in the field, and as he came and drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing. And he called one of the servants and asked what these things meant. 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.” But he was angry and refused to go in. His father came out and entreated him, 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. But when this son of yours came, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him!” And he said to him, “Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. It was fitting to celebrate and be glad, for this your brother was dead, and is alive; he was lost, and is found.” (Luke 15:25-32)
The heart of the older son was finally and fully exposed when his brother returned from his riotous living. Instead of sharing in the father’s joy when his lost brother returned home, “he was angry and refused to go in” to celebrate with his father and everyone in the household. The older son was running from God by keeping the rules; his obedience flowed out of a heart anchored in duty, not devotion.
Tim Keller provides great insight into the condition of the heart of the elder brother who lives in all of us:
The first sign you have an elder-brother spirit is that when your life doesn’t go as you want, you aren’t just sorrowful but deeply angry and bitter. Elder brothers believe that if they live a good life they should get a good life, that God owes them a smooth road if they try very hard to live up to standards. What happens, then, if you are an elder brother and things go wrong in your life? If you feel you have been living up to your moral standards, you will be furious with God. You don’t deserve this, you will think, after how hard you’ve worked to be a decent person.
Elder brothers’ inability to handle suffering arises from the fact that their moral observance is results-oriented. The good life is lives not for delight in good deeds themselves, but as calculated ways to control their environment.
So, have you been running from God by riotous living or religious living—by breaking the rules or keeping the rules? Either way, the only cure is the Gospel. The power of the Gospel frees our hearts to find our satisfaction, meaning, purpose, and identity in Christ—no one and nothing else. Both sons were trying to get these things by the way they were living. Only when we find these things in the One we are living for are we truly free.
This is the Gospel. This is grace for your race. NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!
Grace for the Race 