The Prodigal SONS
 

After the thread on backsliding that was started by Steadfast, this part of the bible-study at my church last night really caught my attention.

My pastor was teaching "Adjusting your Attitude", and while the whole lesson was really good, the part that grabbed me was referring to the elder son in the parable of the prodigal son. My pastor referred to him as the "eldest prodigal son" and made these statement/observations about him.

1. It's possible to assume the place and privilege of a son while refusing the obligations of a brother.

2. It's possible to serve the Father faithfully but not be in fellowship with him.

3. It's possible to be an heir of all the Father possesses yet have less joy and gratitude than those who possess nothing. (He brought in the point about the servants rejoicing at the younger sons return.)

Summation of this thought was that the wrong attitude of the older brother kept him away from his father's heart desire, the love of his brother, and the joy of his inheritance. Wrong relationship with his brother strained his relationship with his father.

This charged my spirit, and I wanted to pass it on.

That's a great study there, dizzyde!

This IS really good. We are at odds with a brother who we feel isn't doing as well as he should, and this leads to a strained relationship with our Father. Would love to hear a tape of that teaching!

Great stuff!

I preached a message called "Lost in the House". The premise was taken from the "lost" chapter, to which you referred here.........

There was a lost sheep, who was not lost of his/her own accord, just wandered off in search of food or water, and found him/herself lost, away from the flock.

In that case, the shepherd left the ninety and nine and went seeking the sheep.

Then, there was the "lost" son, who knew exactly what he was doing, he left the Father's house of his own accord and went his own way.

In this case, the Father never went after him, but kept a place prepared for him, because the Father knew that that young man must "come to himself" and make the choice to come back home.

Then, there was the "lost" coin, that was lost IN THE HOUSE!

It's possible to never leave the House, but be lost.

In this case, the owner of the house turned the house upside down, the coin was not left alone, or undisturbed, but the owner turned the house upside down to find and save the coin.

Well, I could get a CD ;) to you if you really wanted it! You can PM me if so.

Great thoughts!

Let me add my two cents' worth and mention that the elder son in the parable had the same problem as the son who left home. The son who left home figured he had to BE AS one of the hired servants and since he was not worthy to be called son. It was not a matter of worth, but BIRTH. The father ignored that well rehearsed line of being AS a servant, and hollered that HIS SON had come home!

But when the elder son complained about the treatment of the boy who left home, in light of his own refusal to leave home, and mentioned the fatted calf given to the other son when he never got one, the father practically said, "You mean to tell me that you were here all along and never knew you could have a fatted calf any time you wish?"

Both sons degraded their own heirtage by not realizing what they had all along! We do that so many times! We live far too below our priveleges. We accept far too little of what is our's and has been all along!

That is the one that concerns me the most, because it is so easy to be sucked into complacency and wrong thinking. My continual prayer is for God to "open the eyes of heart" (to quote a song) and to give me right thinking.

Michael, you could have posted this on Steadfast's backsliders thread too.

We discussed how you can be backslidden sitting right there in church - - like being lost in the house.

Sounds like a great sermon!

Those sermons are so needful today!

Spin it into an MP3 and you can email me a copy!

:yourock