Jeff Schreve - Religion or Relationship?
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Hey, did you know that God is not impressed by your religious activity? Not at all. But He is well pleased with His Son, the Lord Jesus. And He offers us a relationship with Him that truly is life changing. So grab your Bible and follow along as we study this important subject in a message titled «Religion or Relationship»?
Do you have a real relationship with God through Jesus Christ? Or do you just have religion? Now, we’re going to look at our poster child today, the other brother in the story of the prodigal son. He so often gets overlooked in that great story because we don’t really know what to make of him. It’s very easy to understand, well, the prodigal is a picture of a sinner who wanders from God, willfully wanders from God. He ends up in a terrible place, but then he repents and he goes back, and we love the story because it’s a story of mercy and grace and restoration. But then we forget about the back end of the story and the other brother in the story. And really, when you look at Luke chapter 15, you realize that that was the reason Jesus told the story.
Look what it says in Luke chapter 15, verse 1: «Now all the tax-gatherers and the sinners were coming near Him to listen to Him». You’ll read that phrase in the Gospels: «Tax collectors and sinners,» «the tax gatherers and the sinners». It was just kind of a catch-all for all the scum of the land. The tax collectors were Jewish turncoats who had partnered with Rome to levy taxes on the people and they were notorious crooks and thieves. And so they were the worst of the worst, the tax collectors, and the sinners, the prostitutes and the thieves and the drunks and just all the scum and the, you know, the jetsam of the land, they all lumped them all together. «They were coming near Him to listen to Him. And both the Pharisees and the scribes began to grumble».
Diegoggusmos. They were grumbling among themselves, saying, «This man receives sinners and eats with them». How horrible is that? And then it says He told them this parable, He starts off with the parables in response to what they were saying that this man received sinners. Now the Pharisees and the scribes and the religious leaders, there’s no way they would hang out with tax collectors and sinners. I mean, those people had cooties big time and you didn’t want to get near them. And so they would say, you know, «I’m a holy person and you’re the scum of the earth. Get away from me. You need to cry out 'Unclean, unclean, ' and leave my presence». That was their thought. And so Jesus, not only does He welcome sinners, He has the audacity to eat with sinners. I mean, they spend time together, they sit down at the table together. Who would do that? And they would say, «Obviously, this man isn’t of God because if He were of God, He wouldn’t eat with sinners».
So let’s pick up the story of the prodigal son in verse 20: «But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion for him, and ran and embraced him and kissed him». Those are repeated kisses. «And the son said to him, 'Father, I’ve sinned against heaven and in your sight; I’m no longer worthy to be called your son.' But the father said to his slaves, 'Quickly bring out the best robe and put it on him.'» The best robe was the father’s robe. «'Put my robe on him, the best robe, and put it on him and put a ring on his hand, '» which signified authority back as his son, «'and shoes on his feet, sandals on his feet; and bring the fattened calf, kill it, and let us eat and be merry; for this son of mine was dead and has come to life again; he was lost and has been found.' And they began to make merry».
They began to have a big party. The whole village was invited to the party. That would be a good place to stop the story. But remember, it said, verse 11, «And a certain man had two sons,» two sons. So now we find out about the other brother, the older boy. Says in verse 25: «Now the older son was in the field, and when he came and approached the house, he heard music and dancing. And he summoned one of the servants and began inquiring what these things might be». «Hey, what is this? Why am I hearing this? Well, I don’t know anything about this. What is going on here»? Verse 27: «And the servant,» is a young boy. That’s the word for servant there is young boy. «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.'»
Well, that’s pretty exciting news. Your brother, he’s not dead, he’s alive and he’s come back home, and your father has forgiven him and we’re throwing a party because your brother was dead, so to speak. And now has come to life. Well, the other brother should be pretty excited about that. Uh-uh. Verse 28: «But he became angry and was not willing to go in; and his father came out and began entreating him,» begging him, coming alongside him to encourage him to go into the party. «But he answered and said to his father, 'Look! For so many years I have been serving you and I have never neglected a command of yours; and yet you have never given me a kid, a young goat, that I might be merry with my friends.'»
You’ve never thrown a party for me. You’ve never given me a goat that I can have a fun time with my friends. «'But when this son of yours, '» not my brother, but, «'This son of yours came, who has devoured your wealth with harlots, you have killed a fattened calf for him.' And he said to him, 'My child, you have always been with me, and all that is mine is yours. But we had to be merry and rejoice, for this brother of yours was dead and has begun to live, and was lost and has been found.'»
The story of the other brother. He’s angry when he hears that the brother has come home. He is the poster child for the religious crowd. And I want you to notice three discoveries from this wonderful passage from the back end of this story that give us insight into the life of the religious. And let me just say this. You know, there are those in the audience today and you can relate to the prodigal son. Hopefully everyone can relate to the prodigal son. But there’s some that really relate to the prodigal son. But now if you grew up in church, you’re not going to relate as much to the prodigal son as you’re going to relate to the other brother. And many people who read this story, when they read it, they say, «You know, I can see where he’s mad. I can understand where he’s upset at this. I can understand how his mind works».
Well, we’re gonna see as we dissect this and discover some things, we’re gonna see what’s really at the heart. So discovery number one: religious people are sinners of a different stripe. All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. The prodigal is a sinner and he’s a very obvious sinner. He’s a very open sinner, but the other brother is also a sinner. He’s just a more hidden sinner. See, the out-and-out immoral people, they’re very obvious in their sin. It’s outward and you can see it, like, «Hey, you’re living in sin, you’re sleeping around, you’re getting drunk every night. You’re doing this, you’re doing that, you’re doing the other». It’s just all out there in the open. Nobody has to say, «I’m not sure if you’re doing wrong».
We know you’re doing wrong, if you’re a prodigal. But now a religious person, he’s a sinner of a different stripe, because his sins aren’t obvious, they’re hidden. He doesn’t have sins of the flesh. He has sins of the spirit, and he hides them very well. And so notice about him and the religious people in general, they’re outwardly good and respectable. They like to be good and respectable. The other brother, he didn’t leave the father. He stayed there. «I’m here on the farm. I’m working for my dad. I am near my dad and we’re doing things and I’m doing the things around the farm that he tells me to do, that he gives me to do,» and people would look and they’d say, «Oh, isn’t it so sad about the younger son that went off and wasted his life? But Father, aren’t you so good, Mr. Father, aren’t you so glad that you have this wonderful son, this good son, this moral son, this respectable son»?
That’s the picture of the religious person. Looks good on the outside. Secondly, the religious are outwardly dutiful and meticulous. And when you start talking about a legalist, and the Pharisees and the scribes, they were legalistic, and the religious people, they’re legalistic, man. It means they’re gonna walk the line. They’re gonna live on the straight and narrow. They’re gonna make sure that they don’t step out of bounds in any way. I mean, did you go to Sunday school today? Check. Did you go to church today? Check. Did you have a quiet time today? Check. Did you have at least 10 minutes in prayer today? Check. They have all these boxes checked. Everything is just lining up just perfectly so.
Jesus said of this crowd, «You tithe mint and dill and cumin,» and they would go and they would make sure that a tenth of their spices was dedicated to the Lord. «Hey, that’s gotta go to the Lord». I mean, you know, you count up your parsley leaves and, «Nine for me, one for the Lord». I mean, that’s how meticulous they would get. And Jesus said, «You tithe mint and dill and cumin, but you forget the weightier provisions of the law: justice and mercy, things like that. You strain out a gnat and you swallow a camel». But here’s the kicker: they are inwardly rotten and very far from God. They’re no different on the inside to the prodigal, and Jesus is painting a picture of two extremes. You have this one way over here, this prodigal who is way at the pigsty, that’s just, is filled with shame, covered in guilt and shame.
And then on the other side of the spectrum, you have this person who looks so good on the outside, looks so honorable, looks so righteous, but he’s just as rotten on the inside. On the inside. And the Bible says that the Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart. And Jesus said to these guys in Matthew 23, you know, Matthew 23 is the chapter where He lets them have it, and it’s the, «Woe to you, scribes, Pharisees, hypocrites». I mean, He just calls them out. And one of those woes was this: «Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which on the outside appear beautiful, but inside they are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness. Even so you too outwardly appear righteous to men, but inwardly you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness».
Now, one thing that the religious has that the prodigal doesn’t have is hypocrisy. The prodigal is out there. Everybody sees what he’s doing. He’s not pretending to be something he’s not. But the religious is. He’s pretending to be righteous when he’s not righteous. Christianity’s all about heart. It’s not about checking boxes, it’s not about keeping rules. It’s about having a heart relationship with God. That’s why when Jesus was asked, «What is the greatest commandment»? The greatest commandment is to love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your strength, with all your mind, with all that you have. But the first word is heart. Christianity is a heart relationship. So right off the bat, we find out that the religious crowd, they are sinners of a different stripe.
Second discovery: religious people are exposed in the light of grace, in the light of God’s grace. So you can hide. They can hide in their religion until God’s grace starts to shine. And when God’s grace shines, as it did on the prodigal son, then everything starts coming to the surface. All the rottenness in the heart starts to become visible. And that’s what you see, when the boy finds out, this other brother finds out, hey, what’s all the music? What’s all the dancing? And interestingly, the word for music is where we get our English word «symphony».
And so there are lots of instruments and there’s lots of singing. This is a loud party. This is a big party. I mean, the father is rejoicing at the top of his lungs and to the best that he can put on this party, he’s putting that on for his son, who was dead and then has now come to life, who was lost and has now been found. And so the religious brother says, «What’s all this? I wasn’t consulted about this. I don’t know what’s going on,» and they say, «Oh, your brother’s come back. Your father has received him safe and sound and we’re throwing a party for him». He doesn’t care about his brother. You know, you would think, «My brother’s back? Man, that’s awesome». No, he doesn’t want to see his brother. He doesn’t care about his brother. He gets angry because he thinks, «It’s not right what my father is doing. They’re celebrating shame in there. And that is not right».
Religious people, you mark it down, they’re angry with the Father’s grace, angry with the concept of mercy and grace. They don’t like it. Why? Why would anyone not like grace? Why would anyone not like mercy? Because when you set up your religious system that’s all based on points. Well, how many points does his brother have? Negative, zero, nothing. And we’re throwing him a party? This is wrong. He’s angry at the father’s grace. Why? Because he says it’s the point system, and I’m doing well in the point system. Don’t change the rules of the game because I’ve put in all that, I’ve invested so much in the point system. He doesn’t understand how rotten his heart is. He doesn’t understand how negative he is. The point system.
I heard about a lady. She went to get her picture made, her portrait done, and the photographer took her picture and then she came back and, you know, looked at the prints and stuff, and she was upset, and she said, «Well, I don’t like this at all». He said, «What’s wrong with it»? And she said, «This doesn’t do me justice». He looked at the picture, he looked at her. He said, «Lady, you don’t need justice, you need mercy and grace». She didn’t realize it, right? So the religious person doesn’t like the concept of grace. He’s exposed, that he doesn’t like grace, doesn’t like the fact that tax collectors and sinners could ever be able to come into the kingdom 'cause they have so many negative points that they could… you can never fix that.
This crowd has no heart for the Father’s heart, no heart for the Father’s heart. Because we read in these parables in Luke 15 that every time that the lost was found, you have the same refrain. «Rejoice with me for I found my sheep that was lost, for I found the coin that was lost, for I found the son who was lost. Rejoice with me». Heaven’s greatest joy is when one sinner repents. That’s what Jesus said in Luke chapter 15, verses 6 and 7. «And when he comes home, he calls his friends,» He was talking about the shepherd that found his lost sheep.
«He calls his friends together and his neighbors, and says to them, 'Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost! ' I tell you that in the same way, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents, than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance». One sinner. Hey, today, if you respond to the gospel, there will be rejoicing in heaven. And the One who leads the charge of rejoicing is God Himself. But see, the religious crowd, they don’t care anything about that. Hey, what do you see in church?
You see people when God begins a work and the church begins to grow and people start coming and prodigals start coming to Christ and people start to fill the seats and all of a sudden it’s like, «Well, that’s where I sit. You’re sitting where I sit,» and you can get frustrated because someone who’s never been here before comes and sits in your seat and you look at them like they just, you know, burned your house down. «How dare you sit in my seat? I’ve been in there for 40 years». «Well, sorry, I was at the pig sty. I just got saved last week. I’m here to worship God». Well, you should be rejoicing because the Father rejoices. But all you care about is your seat. You say, «Well, I paid money for that seat. I gave money for that seat».
Hey, all the money that we give, we give it to the Lord and we give it for the purpose of winning people to Christ and growing them up in Christ. That’s what we’re here for, to go and make disciples. Do you have a heart for the Father’s heart? Religious people are exposed in the light of grace. And then thirdly and finally: religious people are very hard to reach, very hard to reach. You know, it’s not that hard to reach the prodigals. You know why? Because they know they’re sinners. Do you remember the story Jesus told in Luke chapter 18 about the Pharisee and the publican that went up to the temple to pray? Publican is another name for tax collector. Not a Republican, he’s just a publican. He’s a tax collector. He goes up to the temple to pray and the Pharisee, it says, «He prayed thus to himself».
Isn’t that interesting? His prayers aren’t getting to God. He’s praying to himself. And he says, «God, I thank You that I’m not like other people. I’m not like this publican over here, this tax collector over here. I pay tithes on all that I get. I fast twice a week. What a good boy am I? I am so good, Lord». That’s how he thought about himself. Totally blind, blinded by self-righteousness. It’s hard to reach someone who’s blinded by self-righteousness, but not only are the religious blinded by their self-righteousness, they’re also bitter over perceived injustice.
Look again at verse 29. This guy just says, «Look! For so many years I have been serving you. I mean, it’s been toil, it’s been horrible». The word for serving means to serve as a slave. «For so many years I’ve been slaving for you and I’ve hated every single minute of it because I didn’t do it for love, I did it for gain. And I didn’t get anything. I’ve never neglected a command of yours. I’ve done everything right. And what do I get for it? Bupkis. I get a big old plate of jack squat. I get nothing. You’ve never given me as much as a young goat that I could have a party with my friends. Oh, I wouldn’t invite you, Dad. You wouldn’t come to the party. I had to be with my friends. But when this son of yours came, and may I remind you, Dad, he devoured your wealth with harlots, you funded his prostitution bill. Well, what do you do? You killed a fattened calf for him».
He’s bitter. He’s outraged. He says, «This is not right». And then thirdly, he’s unwilling to repent and come to the party. The father is entreating him, but he’s not coming in. The father says to him in verse 31, «My child, you have always been with me, and all that is mine is yours. But we had to be merry and rejoice, for this brother of yours was dead and has begun to live, and was lost and has been found».
How can we not rejoice? It would make no sense to not rejoice over what has happened. The son doesn’t come in. You know, when you read in the Bible, in the New Testament, Pharisees and scribes and religious leaders who came to Christ. These are the guys who study the Bible. These are the guys who say they’re so close to God. And when God is in front of them, they miss it because they’re just religious and lost. They don’t have a relationship with the Father. I don’t know where you are in your situation with the Lord. But I know that it’s the church crowd that has trouble with religion. It’s not the nightclub crowd, it’s not the pigsty crowd. It’s the church crowd that has trouble with religion. And you can get locked down in that. And you can be a member of this church from the cradle onward.
You can say, «Well, I was baptized when I was eight and I did this and I did that and I have all the attendance records and all the giving records and all. I’ve been a Sunday school teacher, I’ve been a deacon, I’ve been head of this, head of that». So what? Do you have a real personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ? Because if you don’t, you’re going to die one day and stand before God, and He’s going to say to you, «Depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness. I never knew you. You were religious but you were lost, and you never responded to the gospel».
May that not be true of you. Today is the day to respond to the gospel. As the song says, if you’ll take one step toward the Savior, my friend, you’ll find His arms open wide, and the Lord through His Spirit is entreating you. You need to come while there’s time to come to Jesus and have your sins forgiven and He’ll throw a party for you, because heaven’s greatest joy is when one sinner repents. Not when 99 self-righteous people feel like they need no repentance. The story is unfinished because it’s out there for you and me. What then, will you do with the invitation?