In the story that we’ve been talking about in Luke 15, we most often hear about the prodigal. The prodigal was not a sinner. He was a Christian boy. The father is God the Father, and the house is the local church. The boy took all the gifts and all that he learned, and left. How many times have we poured into people and taught them and trained them? People who didn’t have work ethics, moral ethics or common sense ethics. We taught them, only to have them take it and run away from God and go use it for the devil. I can’t even count them, anymore.
When this boy left his father’s house, he took all of his inheritance. He left the church. He took all the prophecies he’d gotten and all the words of knowledge he’d received. He thought he could just go out and use it at his discretion. But, instead, he broke covenant. He was indulging himself, and giving himself intimately for relief and pleasure. It was because Jesus, worship, and serving God in the House no longer held value. For some of you, the House of God is just an opportunity on your Day Timer, if it fits into your bigger picture. But, when you die, your bigger picture gets real, real small.
Luke 15:28-30. The father has celebrated his son’s return with the fatted calf, in verse 27. The boy came back. The elder brother was angry. He said to his father, “Look, these many years I have served you…” It’s coming down to the real truth. He said that his father never gave him so much as a little kid (goat), but his brother got the fatted calf. He was saying that if his father had done that for him, it would have given him joy. He’s saying to God, “If you’d have done this for me, I’d have had joy.” In verse 31 the father says, “Son, you are always with me and all that is mine is yours. Everything is yours. It’s always been yours.” This boy was sitting in the midst of abundance, yet he wasn’t satisfied, because he wanted what he wasn’t supposed to have. This older brother stomped off in anger and refused to join in the celebration. His father came out to talk to him, but he wouldn’t listen. He said that his father never threw a party for his friends. He was more interested in partying than in the celebration of redemption.
