This Summer, I have been talking about sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I am deeply troubled,, yes even to the point of distress, about the low numbers of people we see converted and baptized, and becoming true followers of Christ here! It has nothing to do with wanting a bigger church, or having more people in the pews. My distress comes from the knowledge that right here - in our own town - there are hundreds, perhaps thousands, of people who do not know the hope that comes from knowing Jesus, who cannot pray with assurance, who live basically to serve their physical appetites!

We to conduits of the Holy Spirit, that bring life - full and abundant - wherever we are. But, for many reasons,

fear, pride, just not knowing how, bad teaching.... the majority of us in this room this morning have never had the experience of leading another person to a living relationship with Jesus Christ. I am not scolding you! I am trying to convey that you need not be a “Reverend,” or a professional church worker, or a Bible Scholar to share the message of Jesus with those in your world. You do need to be serious disciple of Jesus, a person who is honestly in the process of becoming like Him, for our lives must lend credibility to our words or we become a joke, when we talk the Way, but don’t walk it!

Do you hold open the Door?

While driving on our vacation, I was bored enough to turn on the AM radio. I heard the voice of Rush Limbuagh. In the interest of full disclosure I will tell you that I am not a ‘ditto head.’ I generally find his manner, if not his opinions, infuriating. So, in the interest of maintaining my Christian testimony, I seldom listen in, but I did - for a few moments that day. Rush welcomed the caller with his usual bluster, then the man began to rail on drug users basically saying they were useless human wrecks! I waited to see how Rush would respond, knowing full well that just a few years ago he had been in rehab for his own addiction to Oxycontin, a powerful narcotic.

Rush, who is well known for his judgments of the foibles and failures of others, and for his calls for swift and painful justice for various offenders, illegal immigrants, and others he implies are inferior human beings- fell uncharacteristically quiet and quickly went to commercial break. When the show resumed the caller was gone and the subject of justice for drug abusers had disappeared as well. I found Rush’s response interesting, to say the least.

Many of us, however, are not so unlike Rush. We are often make a snap judgment about the sins and/or omissions of others. When we encounter someone that mirrors our own sins, we quickly turn away, or find a way to distance ourselves from that person, finding a ‘reason’ that their life is different from our life!

The fact is that our own failures and sins which should produce a healthy humility in us and a genuine desire for mercy for others as they make us more aware of the Lord’s goodness and grace expressed to us. Instead, we tend - after a time - to forget who we were before coming to Christ, and we become like a character in a story that Jesus told.

TEXT - Luke 15:11-32

Jesus told a series of stories about lost thing in the 15th chapter of Luke.

∙ There was a lost sheep that the shepherd went out and found. All the people rejoiced. “Yeah! Little lamb is back safe and sound.”

∙ There was a story about coin that rolled into a corner. The woman of the house turned it upside down until she found the coin. All the people rejoiced. “Yeah! Her fortune is restored.”

Now, follow along as I read the third story to you.

(READ

Step back from the warm fuzzy feelings and ask yourself this question:

What if the first person to greet the returning son had been the older brother?

Let’s take a second look at his response to his brother’s homecoming. I want to read that part of the story again - from The Message.

“As he approached the house, he heard the music and dancing. Calling over one of the houseboys, he asked what was going on. He told him, ‘Your brother came home. Your father has ordered a feast—barbecued beef!—because he has him home safe and sound.’

“The older brother stalked off in an angry sulk and refused to join in. His father came out and tried to talk to him, but he wouldn’t listen. The son said, ‘Look how many years I’ve stayed here serving you, never giving you one moment of grief, but have you ever thrown a party for me and my friends? Then this son of yours who has thrown away your money on whores shows up and you go all out with a feast!’" (Luke 15:25-30, The Message)

When we think about sharing the love of Jesus Christ with our world we need to consider the lessons offered by the traits and responses of the older brother. We need to ask ourselves – “Am I communicating a mixed message that says to those I want to invite to know Jesus that

God loves you, but I think you’re disgusting! If you want to be part of my group, then come to Jesus, and leave your mess, your sins, and your past outside the house. I don’t like or want people like you around.”

People who know God are called to righteousness. I am not disputing that! When a person comes to know Jesus, genuine change of character will accompany true faith, but...

true righteousness can easily and quickly become self-righteousness.

That is exactly why Jesus was telling this story. Take a look at 15: 1-2 READ

The religious people were very upset with Jesus for mixing with people they considered beneath them! They could not understand how a man who claimed to be bringing God’s message would be around sinners. He should be hanging out with church people! If we are honest, I think many of us in this room, can identify with those Pharisees! (PAUSE.........)

A person with an attitude that is like that of the older brother in Jesus’ story becomes a wall that keeps others out of the church instead of a door that invites them in!

Pastor Dary Northrup of Fort Collins, CO, (message delivered at General Council of the AG, August, 2007)

points out these traits that are found in those who are like the older brother in Jesus’ story.

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1. They work hard! That’s a good thing. Read 15.29

But, they begin to think that they are buying their place at the Father’s table!

Do you think that God owes you something? Do you resent those who come to Christ and

seem to enjoy greater blessings without ‘paying their dues’ like you did?

2. They hear the music but refuse to attend the party! Read 15.25

They have been around the things of God for so long, they have grown into cynical,

critical people who sit on the sidelines offering remarks like:

“Sure, you’re excited, but it will wear off!”

“We tried that once, but everybody knows it won’t work.”

“Why do we have to do that again. Just do your duty!”

Have you lost your ability to celebrate God’s goodness?

Jesus spoke to a church in the book of the Revelation and said, “I see what you’ve done, your hard, hard work, your refusal to quit. I know you can’t stomach evil, that you weed out apostolic pretenders." ... “But you walked away from your first love—why? What’s going on with you, anyway?" (Rev. 2:4, The Message)

Older brothers tend to get stuck in on their duties and forget to go to the party!

3. They forget the house belongs to the Father and start to think they own it!

They turn into bosses who think they are the ones who get to decide what their church is about, who should be ‘in,’ who is ‘out,’ and who is worthy! They get real sensitive about titles and positions. They think they own their ministry and fail teach others to do what they do because ‘nobody could ever do it like I do it.’

When something changes, they get angry for no other reason than no one thought it was important to get their permission!

When we are infected with the spirit of the older brother, Instead of being welcoming, hoping for the return of those who have wandered from our Father's house, we want justice visited on them. We are like Jesus' own disciples who, when a village refused to show them hospitality, had a burst of faith and asked Him - "Lord, should we call down fire from heaven to burn them up?" But Jesus turned and rebuked them." (Luke 9:54-55, NLT) It is amazing how quick we are to turn the fire of our condemnation on those we deem to be 'sinners,' and seeing our lack of love as an expression of righteousness!

Do know that Jesus reserved His strongest rebukes for those who were scrupulous about keeping the smallest details of the Law of God, but who failed to see the importance of grace, mercy, and love?

His words are not softened or subtle! "You’re hopeless, you religion scholars and Pharisees! Frauds! You keep meticulous account books, tithing on every nickel and dime you get, but on the meat of God’s Law, things like fairness and compassion and commitment—the absolute basics!—you carelessly take it or leave it. Careful bookkeeping is commendable, but the basics are required." (Matthew 23:23, The Message)

‘Older brothers’ have ruined many a church and discouraged many a young convert. I know - for that spirit infected me once - and still tries to creep back into my heart from time to time.

Here’s some ways to evaluate if you’re infected with the spirit of the ‘older brother.’

1. Does your Christianity mostly an expression of criticism and anger?

When you see someone who is obviously not a follower of Jesus, do you snort a critical remark,

and/or think that they deserve to suffer or go to Hell?

2. Are you aloof, considering yourself morally superior to others, lacking real and meaningful friendships

with people who are not followers of Christ?

3. Are you arrogant, quick to point out your faithfulness in contrast to their failures?

Do you communicate a subtle message that if a person really wants to follow Jesus, they will have to become ‘just like you?’

4. Do you crave recognition, keeping track of who is getting the attention in your church and wanting more

people, money, or time to be focused on what you do?

5. Do you always work at making a clear distinction between who is and who is not your brother?

“Well, he couldn’t possibly be a Christian because.....”

6. Which do you note more quickly - the ‘sin’ or the ‘salvation?’

Older brothers major on condemnation. They are the ‘holiness police’ who take note of the

young Believer whose skirt is too short, or whose pants are too baggy. They take note of the car that another Christian is driving and wonder out loud - ‘why didn’t they give more to the church instead buying such an expensive truck?’

7. Are you constantly critical of the use of resources? “You killed the fattened calf for that son of yours?”

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Go back to our text for a moment...

Take a look at the Father’s response to his son’s return.....

READ v. 20, 22-24

There is no probationary period in which he had to prove his worthiness, no list of rules that he had to sign before he came back into the family, no formal apologies to be signed and delivered to all the people he had offended, no concern for the scandal of having the son back home again. There is just LOVE!

What a challenge for you and me, Believer. How easily the spirit of the older brother creeps up on us and we begin to slam the door of the Kingdom in the face of those who need grace, forgetting that we are daily recipients of God’s grace.

Ask God to give you a heart that is full of love. Let Him take care of deciding who is in and who is out, who is worthy and who is unworthy.

Pray for the love of Jesus to so fill your heart that nothing in you suggests to others anything like the spirit of the older brother.

And, the result will be that many will find their way to the table of grace, where God will profoundly change them.

The Word says –

"Saving is all his idea, and all his work. All we do is trust him enough to let him do it. It’s God’s gift from start to finish! We don’t play the major role. If we did, we’d probably go around bragging that we’d done the whole thing! No, we neither make nor save ourselves. God does both the making and saving. He creates each of us by Christ Jesus to join him in the work he does, the good work he has gotten ready for us to do, work we had better be doing." (Ephesians 2:8-10, The Message) Amen