Epic Bible College

People Around Jesus

Posted on 08. Jun, 2010 by dpineschi in Uncategorized

The Prodigal God – Timothy Keller
Ch. 1 – People Around Jesus
Luke 15:1-3, 11-32

Why do I do the things I do? What’s my hearts motive for everything I do? After reading Timothy Keller’s “The Prodigal God” I had to ask myself these tough questions. In his book he focus’ on the parable of the Prodigal Son and its true meaning in context. So, often we read this passage and focus on the younger son who demands his inheritance from his father, lives wildly, then comes home and see a father running to him with his arms wide open. You see God’s heart of unconditional love and it really is amazing to see the heart of God in that. Because of that we miss the meaning of the parable as a whole.

What was the reason for this parable? The Pharisees said, “This man welcomes sinners and even eats with them.” This was a sign of acceptance in the Near East at that time. The Luke 15:1-3 gives us understanding on the reason why Jesus told the parable. Two groups of people were in Jesus’ audience: 1 Tax collectors and sinners and Pharisees – religious teachers of the law. The younger brother represents the sinners who do not observe the moral laws “wild living” and the Pharisees represent the elder brother who studied and obeyed scripture. “There are two brothers, each of whom represents a different way to seek acceptance into the kingdom of heaven.” T Keller. The message was for both groups but more directed to the religious and moral. This message had to sting those listening. This is not a heart-warming message. Jesus speaks directly to the Pharisees because of their response and attitude toward Jesus. “He was eating with sinners.” In the parable the father makes a feast for his prodigal son that was disobedient, yet the older brother refused to join because he was wronged due to his strict obedience to his father.

Yes, Jesus shows the unconditional love of God in this story, but the original audience was most likely offended. “The targets of this story are not ‘wayward sinners’ but religious people who do everything the Bible requires. Jesus is pleading not so much with the immoral outsider but the moral insiders. He wants to show them their blindness, narrowness, and self-righteousness and how these things are destroying their souls and the people around them.” Keller. This was a revolutionary idea for the religious leaders of the day, yet it can pierce the heart of many Christians today who find acceptance in what they do and don’t do. The gospel, in short, is God reconciling man through Jesus. But we must know he is our savior and not ourselves.

In accounting and finances it’s not always about the bottom line. You can get to the bottom line and have all the right numbers and everything works. One of the key questions in accounting is “why?” Why did I do this equation and use these numbers? You can memorize things and not have a clue why you do what you do, but its empty, because when things get messy and hard, memorizing will not get you anywhere. You must always know “why” you do what you do. In the same way, Christian living can be “I know what the rights and wrongs are and I do the right things and I stay away from the wrong things so everything is good.” Wrong! Why do you do the right things and stay away from the wrong? Your motivation cannot be self-fish. “Through this parable Jesus challenges what nearly everyone thought about God, sin, and salvation. His story reveals the destructive self-centeredness of the younger brother, but it also condemns the elder brother’s moralistic life in the strongest terms. Jesus is saying that both irreligious and the religious are spiritually lost, both life-paths are dead ends.” Keller

God hates both these conditions, but as you see in this parable and throughout Jesus’ ministry it was the religious who were dead spiritually. In our modern society we may find ourselves looking down at the younger brothers in our world and say you are not living right. The younger brothers look at the religious and blame them for the condition of the world and say the religious people hate everyone who doesn’t believe what they do. The question is not right or wrong, but do we carry the true kingdom of God in our hearts, which is the gospel. As believers, our focus cant be about how good can I be, sin less, serve more; if these things are not born out of love and carried out in faith they are just good moral things that create in us pride and security. We no longer need the cross and our good works make us feel safe; a savior is no longer needed. The elder brother was obedient in every way to his father but you can see in the parable that the motive of his obedience was to inherit what was “rightfully his” based upon his son ship, but also based on his obedience. Two paths, one motive, I want mine!

We cannot bribe or handcuff God because we are obedient. We have no right for anything outside of Jesus. He is our only true righteousness.