In this story by MAX LUCADO, the four brothers sinned against their father and then reacted to their sin in different ways…
1. The first son resolved to INDULGE himself.
In stead of turning from his sin, he embraced it.
So often we do the same thing. We trade the eternal joy of fellowship with a holy God for the temporary pleasure of yielding to our own evil desires. Paul described this response to sin in Romans 1:18 when he wrote of people who, suppressed the truth of God’s love with their own wickedness. For although they knew God, they neither glorified Him as God nor gave thanks to Him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools.
2. The second son responded by deciding to COMPARE himself.
Instead of dealing with his own mistakes he focused on the mistakes of others. Like many of us he thought, I may be bad, but as long as I can find someone worse, I am safe. Ironically, people like this think they judge others when by their own actions they are really judging themselves. Listen to the words of Romans 2:1, You therefore who pass judgment on someone else have no excuse, for at whatever point you judge the other, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things….do you think you will escape God’s judgment? No, God will give to each person according to what he has done!
3. The third brother responded to his own sin by saying, I’ll SAVE myself.
He ignored his father’s gracious gesture of sending the elder brother to take him home and decided to work his own way there. He thought that it was somehow possible for him to stop sinning and work his way back into his father’s good graces. But as it said in the skit, favor earned is no favor….mercy earned is no mercy. When we respond to our own sin like this brother awe ignore the truth of Romans 3:10 which says, There is no one who always does what is right, not even one. We don’t stack rocks in a river but we do pile up good deeds on earth. We think, God will accept me if I teach this class or host this fellowship or go to church enough or give my money or if I do this or that good deed. Like the third brother, we forget that what separates us from God is not a shallow stream but a tumbling, cascading, overwhelming river of sin. It is impossible for us to hold our own, much less make any progress against it. Lucado writes, Rock-stackers like this brother either give up or become stuck up. They think they’ll never make it or they think they are the only ones who’ll ever make it.
The first brother INDULGES himself, the second COMPARES himself, the third thinks he can SAVE himself.
4. Only the fourth brother responds by ENTRUSTING himself to his elder brother’s gracious care.
He admits his need for his Father’s forgiveness. His response reflects the truth of Romans 1:17 that says, Those who are right with God , will live by trusting Him.
I have always loved this story because-as we have seen — it has so many parallels to our own lives. Each of us are sinners, who have willfully chosen to disobey our Heavenly Father. Each of us, when confronted with our sin, respond much as these brothers did. And there is one other parallel. Just as the King sent the Elder brother to carry the sons home, our Heavenly Father has made a way for us to come home. God sent His sinless Son to die for our sins. In coming to bring us home, Jesus took our just punishment. He took our death penalty on Himself. You see God is a god of Grace but He is also a god of Justice. Romans 3 says, We are justified freely by His grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented Jesus as a sacrifice of atonement. He did this to demonstrate His justice.
So whenever we partake of communion we remember God’s justice and we celebrate His grace.
This morning as you reflect on communion, ask yourself a vital question. Which brother in the skit best describes your response to God’s grace? If we are honest with ourselves we’ll answer ALL OF THE ABOVE! Because there have been times the we have all turned our backs on God and embraced sin. We have all fallen into the trap of judging others when our own sin takes away our right to do so. And all of us have had times that we thought our good deeds somehow made us worthy of God’s love.
So this morning as we sing our hymn of commitment, your decision may need to be a private one in which you repent of these attitudes. You may be here and are not a Christian and like the younger brother in the skit admit your helplessness to make the journey home alone.