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Justification
Part 6 - Luke 15 Our Problem with Legalism[1]
This fall we’re talking about this thing, JUSTIFICATION = how you, a sinner, can stand before God and God say to you, “You are righteous. You are perfect. And you deserve to live forever in heaven with me.”
Let’s RE-READ the story of the prodigal son in Luke 15 because this parable isn’t just about the younger son. It’s also about the older son.
A father had two sons. The younger son demanded his dad give him half his wealth, then he left home and wasted all the money, and then, sad and alone, he goes home to beg his dad to take him back as a slave. But when he gets home his dad forgives him and welcomes him back home.
What does the older son do when he hears his younger brother is back?
The older brother comes home after working hard all day and hears a big party going on and hears his good for nothing little brother is back. And he is NOT happy.
Why is the older brother angry?
His little brother insulted their dad, hurt their dad; deserted the family, and ran off and wasted and lost half of the family’s wealth. AND NOW their dad is rewarding the little brother with a town wide festival. The older brother has worked and worked everyday for his dad and says he’s never even gotten so much as a goat from his dad.
What does the older brother think his little brother deserves? Why?
The older brother thinks the younger brother deserves nothing good from their dad because the older brother thinks his younger is a bad person.
What does the older brother think he deserves? Why?
The older brother thinks he deserves all the good things from his dad and a party to celebrate him as the good son because the older brother thinks he is a good person.
How good does God expect you to be? Does God just love everyone no matter what they do? Or, does God expect you to just be more good than you are bad?
God has one standard: perfection. The older brother’s problem is he thinks there are good people who deserve good things and bad people who deserve bad things. We make this mistake too. We think we can earn heaven from God by playing the comparison game with people we think are worse than us. “I’m a sinner BUT I’m not a bad sinner like some people. I DESERVE God’s grace and forgiveness because I’m a good person.”
The sad thing is the older son didn’t treat his dad any better than the younger son. The older son served his dad not because he loved his dad but to get things from him. The two brothers have different behavior but neither loves their dad the way they should.
If you had a little brother or little sister run away from home what would you want to do? Run after them? Find them? Help them? Is this what the older brother did?
Remember Jesus is our older brother. How is Jesus different from this older brother?
Jesus, your older brother comes for you. He leaves the Father and heaven to come for you. And he pays the terrible cost to bring us home. He lives the perfect life we should FOR us. And he dies on the cross to pay the debts for our sins. Nobody is good enough to earn heaven except Jesus and he did it for you.
What is something we just learned that we can: 1) praise God for and 2) ask God for?
[1] Kevin DeYoung, The Biggest Story Bible Storybook, Chapter 73, Lost and Found, Luke 15 374-379.