The Blinding Effects of Self-Righteousness (Luke 15:25-32) | Pastor Peter Kim

Thank you. Thank you.

We're going to go ahead and start our service here with this first song, Christ Our Wisdom. Christ Our Wisdom, we are humbled when you hide your ways from us. You have purposes, give us grace to see more clearly, you are God and we are not. Christ Our Wisdom. Christ Our Wisdom. Christ Our Wisdom be our gladness, when we fail to understand.

You are God and we are God and we are God and we are God and we are God and we are God and we are God. To fulfill our God and we are God and we are God and we are God and we are God and we are God and we are God. Christ our wisdom we will follow Though the way our head is filled As we journey through the shadows Grant us faith where sight is filled Help us cling to your commandments Strengthened by your faithful word We will never be abandoned You are God and we are yours Christ our wisdom we adore you For the beauty of the cross Once in foolishness we scorned you But your blood has ransomed us Help us sing the endless mercies Of your humble heart to save Christ our wisdom Christ our glory You are God forever Help us sing the endless mercies Of your humble heart to save Christ our wisdom Christ our glory You are God forever Praise All right good morning

Welcome to Brink Community Church I forgot to mention this for our first service But today is our church's 29th year anniversary We have nothing prepared Okay so we're waiting for our 30th anniversary Next year is our 30th anniversary So next year we'll do something We're already talking about what we're going to do next year But some of you guys may not know But when we had our church inaugurated The inauguration service My wife and I could not attend Because our first born child was born on that same day So when our church was younger We would always celebrate his birthday And church birthday at the same time And then eventually he figured out We were celebrating it together But anyway so I just want you guys to know This is our 29th anniversary And then next year is going to be our 30th anniversary So we're not doing anything today Other than just remembering But next year anticipate Okay so we're already planning To see what we're going to do next year Next coming Saturday On the 18th at 9 a.m.

We're going to be having our quarterly church cleaning day And obviously we had our passion week And our you know the whole church everywhere was occupied And so we need help kind of putting things back in order To clean up And so they're asking me We need a lot more people So even if you only come for a short period If you can just sign up And let them know that you're able to come And that morning we'll have light snacks Breakfast ready for you And then afterwards they'll give you the assignment So you can kind of spread out And different part of the church to clean up And so if you can do that This coming Saturday On April 18th at 9 a.m. Please sign up for that Or if you're not sure And you just want to come You're welcome to come as well Today was supposed to be our first day To practice softball for our tournament But because of the rain I think it has been canceled But we will have our first practice next Sunday At Venado Middle School It's at Deerfield And so if you signed up for that Or if the various teams That you're supposed to come out with Please come out for that Next Sunday after service I think it's at 2 o'clock After lunch Okay so keep that in mind And then the Berean service auction Today is the last day to submit Okay it was yesterday But we wanted to make sure That everybody got an opportunity And that you knew about that So if you are participating Or wish to participate in the auction

And you have something to offer up Today is the very last day And so please sign up for that today Okay And then finally Our summer retreat that's coming I know we've made the announcement But this month is our Is going to be the last month For the early registration And I want to highly encourage you to come And after April It's going to be regular registration In other words The registration fee is going to go up And then hopefully We won't have too many late registration Because I do believe that this year Our retreat is going to be pretty packed And I want to highly encourage you To do your best to participate in that For several reasons One Our church is getting bigger And it's harder and harder To kind of You know To get to know people And a lot of times We go to the retreat And you meet people Who've been at a church For four, five, six years But you've never run into them So at the retreat You're not going to get to meet everybody But you'll be able to meet A lot more people at the retreat Than you would hear And then secondly Our speaker that is coming He's a highly sought out speaker Especially on this topic And so Some of you have asked Like how do we get him To come to our church I have no idea He just happens to live in San Diego He just happened to be open that day And so we asked him And they said yes So we Especially on this subject We want to strongly encourage you

To come and participate and learn Because he On this subject He is a very highly sought out speaker for this And some of you have already asked Because of this You may have family and friends Who you think will benefit from this It is our church retreat And because it is heavily subsidized by the church That we can't just open it up to anybody But if you do have some people That you really want them to come Please come talk to us directly Because we're going to have to take it Case by case Like I said Because it is heavily subsidized by the church That if we just open it up And we just have too many We're not going to be able to handle it So if you have somebody that you know That you think will greatly benefit from this It is a church retreat And not a conference Meaning that if they do participate They will have to come to the whole thing The small groups and everything So just want to keep that in mind Again this month is the last month For early registration So if you are planning to come Please register ahead of time Okay Alright let me pray for the offing And then after our praise set Our brother Braden is going to come And he's going to be baptized this morning Alright let's pray Heavenly Father We thank you so much Lord God For your continued mercy and grace And your love that you pour upon us Help us to be mindful Of all that you've given That our worship may simply be

A reasonable response To the gratitude Lord We have in our hearts Help us Lord To see our finances As yours And that we are just stewards And that what we give Lord God Would be done joyfully Cheerfully And may be multiplied For the sake of your kingdom We thank you Father In Jesus name we pray Amen Amen Church family Why don't we stand together While we're standing And if you can turn around Maybe turn to your neighbor Say hello If they don't know you Introduce yourself Thank you.

Let's sing together, bless me. Blessed be your name in the land that is plentiful, things of abundance flow. Blessed be your name. Blessed be your name when I'm found in the desert place. I'll walk through the wilderness. Blessed be your name. Every blessing. Every blessing you pour out, I'll turn back to praise. When the darkness closes in, Lord, still I will say. Blessed be the name of the Lord. Blessed be your name. Blessed be the name of the Lord. Blessed be your glorious name.

Blessed be your name. When the sun's shining down on me. When the world's all as it should be. Blessed be your name. Blessed be your name. On the road marked with suffering. There's pain in the offering. Blessed be your name. Blessed be your name. Every blessing. Every blessing you pour out, I'll turn back to praise. When the darkness closes in, Lord, still I will say. Blessed be the name of the Lord. Blessed be your name. Blessed be the name of the Lord. Blessed be your glory and blessing. Oh, blessed be the name of the Lord.

Blessed be your name. Blessed be the name of the Lord. Blessed be your glorious name. You give and take away. You give and take away. My heart will choose to say. Lord, blessed be your name. Blessed be the name of the Lord. You give and take away. My heart will choose to say. Lord, blessed be your name. Blessed be the name of the Lord. Blessed be your name. Blessed be the name of the Lord. Blessed be your glorious name. Oh, blessed be the name of the Lord.

Blessed be your name. Blessed be the name of the Lord. Blessed be your glorious name. Amen. For my waking breath. For my waking breath. For my daily breath. I depend on you. I depend on you. For the sun to rise. For my sleep at night.

I depend on you. I depend on you. You're the way, the truth, and the light. You're the way, the truth, and the light. You're the well that never runs dry. I'm the branch and you are the light. You're the way, the light. Draw me close and teach me to abide. You're the way, the truth, and the light. You're the way, the truth, and the light. You're the way, the light. You're the way, the truth, and the light. You're the way, the truth, and the light.

You're the well that never runs dry. I'm the wretch, and you are the vine. Draw me close and teach me to abide. Be my strength, my song in the night. Be my all, my treasure, my pride. If I am yours, forever you're mine. Draw me close and teach me to abide. When I pass, when I pass through death, as I enter Christ, I depend on you. I depend on you. For eternal life, to be raised with Christ.

I depend on you, I depend on you. I depend on you. You're the way, the truth, and the light. You're the well that never runs dry. You're the well that never runs dry. You're the way, the truth, and the light. You're the way, the truth, and the light. You're the well that never runs dry. You're the well that never runs dry. Be my all, my treasure, my prize. I am yours forever, you're mine. Draw me close and teach me to abide.

Amen. Let me see you today. Hi, church family. My name is Braden Abadea, and today I'll be sharing my testimony. I grew up in a Christian household, and I believe I accepted Christ as my Lord and Savior at a very young age. I had grandparents who read the Bible inside and out, and still continue to do so every morning. I had parents who do devotion with my sister and I every night, and reminded us to pray and read our Bibles. I was even a part of my school's Christian club, and did vacation Bible school in my summers. I felt like I had a good perception of what being a Christian was, and was proud of that label. However, I did not display Christ in any way, shape, or form, and was a hearer of the word, but not a doer of the word.

I did not read God's word because I thought it was boring and reserved for something to do when I became old. I constantly let my emotions control me and sought out to boast in my own accomplishments, whether it be grades, possessions, or friends, because those were the things I was most proud of. When COVID happened, I slipped even further from God and felt a need for a community. I searched everywhere for people to satisfy the loneliness and discontent I felt. And while I would pray for friends who were believers, I really just wanted anyone who would be able to make me happy, and I surrounded myself with non-believers as friends. This caused me to live in sin and pursue things on this earth.

I lusted after the things of this world and became one in the flesh, putting my identity in my own life. I thought that being a Christian meant living a boring life where pleasure and fun are stripped away, and I felt like I had everything I wanted doing things my way. My faith in the Lord was minimal. I did just the bare minimum to secure salvation and believed I could ultimately serve both myself and the Lord simultaneously. When high school ended, I saw the life of sin I was committed to and cut out the friend group I once cherished above Christ. And while I knew this action pleased God, I felt sad and mourned after the relationships I once had because I ultimately made them my purpose. Even though I cut out the bad influences in my life, I was still pursuing my own selfish desires because I didn't see the point of living completely for Christ.

I would go to church on Sunday and live however I wanted on Monday through Saturday. When I started college, I was looking forward to making those college memories the world romanticizes: friends, partying, and getting a high-paying job right after. However, I ended up coming across a Christian fellowship on campus. The fellowship brought me to a community of college students who were passionate for Christ and inspired me to come back to God who was waiting for me to realize how broken and sinful I was. I felt embarrassed by how little I knew about the Bible despite calling myself a Christian all these years. And my desire for learning about Christ slowly grew. Seeing how much I needed God in my life and how I could not be safe from my sin by my own works, I asked God to soften my heart and allow him to work in me.

Just a couple months later in my freshman year of college, I faced a difficult trial with my health. I started to struggle with my skin. I have struggled with eczema since I was a kid and didn't expect it to come back. But it did and I became angry with God. I felt like my life had been put on a pause and my whole life had become revolved around searching for a solution so I could be myself again. I was confused on how a God that I was just learning to love and pursue could be punishing me. I felt stressed out about my situation because I didn't feel God healing me and I felt as if God had hidden his face from me. In those moments of struggle, I battled with my faith and found myself depending on God more than ever.

Despite feeling the worst physically, I noticed the Holy Spirit changing my heart more and more. In those times of suffering and pain, I came to a place of humility and realization that all I had with me was God. And the only thing I could rely on more than any medicine or remedy was God's promise to never leave me nor forsake me. And as time progressed, my prayers changed from constantly asking God to just heal me and take away my pain and suffering, to asking God to be with me and to use this trial for his glory, as well as patience and strength while this period would continue, because I knew this dark moment would only last as long as God needed it to, to accomplish his purpose. And while I look back on the past, I notice that God has been with me every step of the way.

And though it didn't seem like it at the time, the dark moments and sorrow I was facing was God building me up to conform me into the likeness of Christ, humbling me and sanctifying me through the trials and tribulations he ordained. God taught me that his plans are superior and replace all that I thought I had lost in the world with the gain of Christ. 1 John 2:15-16 reads, Do not love the world, nor the things in this world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world. The Lord graciously showed me the life of sin I was going down, and he brought me to a place of grief and repentance over the impact of my sins.

He also blessed me with finding Bereans, surrounded me with a community that loves God as much as I do. Ecclesiastes 12:1 reads, Remember your creators in the days of your youth, before the days of trouble come and the years approach when you will say, I find no pleasure in them. I have the desire to live by God's word and pray every day with intention and understanding, instead of just when I need something from God. And through these trials, God gave me the drive of desperation for him, and slowly but surely I see God sanctifying my fleshly heart. While I still struggle with sin and idolatry, I know I have a God I can depend on, who will help me fight against that sin rather than living in it.

And as I enter the water to become baptized, my old life is gone by the grace of God, and I'm given new life in union with Christ Jesus as my savior. Thank you. All right, Brady, thank you for that very encouraging testimony. If you can turn your Bibles with me to Luke chapter 15, Luke chapter 15, I'm going to read the first two verses and then jump to verse 25 to 32. Again, as you guys know, that when we started this in the beginning of chapter 15, that all the three parables was really meant to highlight what he's trying to say at the latter part of this parable, that he's really dealing with the Pharisees and the scribes who are complaining that Jesus is spending time with the tax collectors and sinners. So he's trying to address this issue. And so again, let me read the first two verses just to kind of remember what we came from so that we can connect it to what the motive was. Again, verse one and two.

Now all the tax collectors and the sinners were coming near him to listen to him. Both the Pharisees and the scribes began to grumble, saying, this man receives sinners and eats with them. And then jumping to verse 25. Now his 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 could be. And he said to him, your brother has come and your father has killed a fattened calf because he has received him back safe and sound. But he became angry and was not willing to go in. And his father came out and began pleading with him. 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 young goat so that I might celebrate with my friends. But when his son of yours came, who has devoured your wealth with prostitutes, you've killed a fattened calf for him. And he said to him, son, you have always been with me and all that is mine is yours. But we had to celebrate and rejoice for this brother of yours was dead and has begun to live and was lost and has been found. Let's pray.

Heavenly Father, we pray that your word, your living word would speak to us, open our eyes, Lord God, like a hammer and like fire, that it would mold us and build us, Lord God, as you are the potter and we are the clay and mold us as you desire. In Jesus name we pray. Amen. If you study the New Testament, you find that there's two central problems or challenges that was constantly trying to pull at the gospel. The gospel is the good news that was given to the apostles, to the early church, the early believers to go and bring light to the world, salvation to the world. But the enemy in the early church would constantly tug at it to the left and to the right to pervert the gospel. There's a reason why in the Bible, in the book of Revelation, it ends by saying he who adds to this revelation will be added the plague and he would take away from this, that God would take away his name from the book of life. So you are not to add or you are not to subtract. And so if you read the New Testament, the two main things that are going back and forth are the Judaizers and what they call the Gnostics. And so you had the Gnostics coming into the church saying that, you know, the flesh is already gone and it doesn't matter what you do with the flesh because we're saved by grace, by faith alone. So what you do with the flesh doesn't matter. So first John, Galatians and parts of Romans and even Hebrews and so many of the New Testament is written to

address this issue. And do we have that issue today? Of course we do. We call it cheap grace, free grace, however you want to call it, where people say, because we're saved by faith, what we do, living holiness, doesn't matter. And I don't know how anybody is reading the scriptures and come from that, but there is a constant technical war to take us to that, saying that somehow we're perverting the gospel if we say that we need to live a life of holiness. The other part of it is that the Judaizers were trying to add to the gospel. And they both claimed that they believed, but then one was taken away from what it says and the other one was adding and the Judaizers were going around saying, "Yes, we believe in Jesus, but you need to be circumcised." That you need to become a Jew first. And so Galatians is written for that. The Romans, parts of Romans are written for that, and so much of the scripture is this constant tug of war between adding and subtracting and adding and subtracting.

Every single one of us has a disposition for one or the other. No one is perfectly centered, even though we would like to think I am the center and everybody to my left is liberal and everybody to my right is too conservative. We all think that we're the central, but we are all skewed in some way. We are leaning to the left to the point where it's like, "Hey, you know there's too much conversations about holiness and it's just too much of that." And it kind of cheapens the grace when we do that. And then you have the other group of people who are saying, "You know, we need to live holy. We need to be discipled and we can't drive this kind of a car and we can't live here and we can't do that." And so every single person in this room room has a leaning and that leaning causes you to listen to sermons and Bible study with that lens.

The older brother and younger brother represents these two polar opposites. We talked about the younger brother who was living a licentious life, took everything, squandered everything and came back. Obviously, he repents and he represents the group that just kind of rebels against God. He doesn't want any law. He wants to live according to his standards. But the real address in chapter 15 was to the Judaizers. Because it started because they were grumbling. Why? If he's the Messiah, why would he allow these sinners, these repulsive people to be near him if he's the Messiah? And so he addresses this with the Judaizer. And typically, whatever your leaning is, and if I was to ask you, how many of you can relate with the prodigal son? Right? How many of you can relate with the Judaizers? My guess is most of you will probably relate to the prodigal son. Right? That's my guess. At least that's from my experience talking to most people you relate to with the prodigal son. And especially because you're already here. You've already, most of you have already repented. And so you understand. So you're struggling with trying to live righteously. And then there's some of you, and you may not be aware that there's some Judaizing in you. Right? And you may not be aware. Especially if you grew up in the church and you never really like rebelled and you were a good son. And you may be wrestling with that. Right? Well, this morning,

the dress that Jesus is making to the older brother, the primary problem with him was that he was a self-righteous person. And self-righteousness, the last person to know that you're self-righteous is you. Right? And you can't, you can't handle it when somebody, somebody points that out and you push that. And that's one of those blind spots that you may have that you just, you just can't handle. Right? It's like, oh, it's because they can't handle righteousness. They're not as serious as I am. But his self-righteousness caused him to be blind in three things in this text. He was blind to who he is. He was blind to how he viewed his brother. And then he was blind to ultimately how he viewed the father.

And ultimately that's, he has a skewed view of God himself. Right? So this morning, I want to go over that. And that's basically the outline that I have this morning. The older brother, his self-righteousness caused him to see himself as righteous and not as unrighteous. It begins where the older brother sees he's out in the field and he's working hard. He hears party going on. He goes over there and finds out that they're celebrating. And he said, what's going on here? And when he finds out that it was to celebrate his brother coming back, he revolts. And he would not come into this party. And so you can imagine the embarrassment of the father because the older son would not come out. He's outside protesting.

And so what's going on? So the father comes, and this encounter happens between the father and the son, where discussion goes back and forth. And he basically says, why aren't you not coming in? And he says, what you're doing is not right. And in this conversation, you have to remember all this is being said to reveal the blindness of the Pharisees and the scribes in verse one and two. So let's look at it. First of all, the older brother's self-righteousness caused him to be blind to be blind to who he is. He says, for so many years, I have been serving you and I have never neglected a command of yours. Do you think that that was true? That he never disobeyed. He was perfect. Right? That he was Jesus, basically. At least that's the way he saw himself. But let's be fair.

Without exaggerating, without being hyperbolic, he would have been the ideal son. He's the son that maybe other parents would look at and say, oh, thank God you have at least one good son. You know, where's your second one? He said, oh, he's off doing something. But he was the one at the field working. He was the one attached. He never went astray. So on the surface, he was the good son. And that's how he saw himself. I worked hard. I served you. I never neglected any of your commands. But he was completely unaware of the disobedience of his own heart. He was completely unaware because he presented himself as godly, not realizing that inwardly, he was just as far as the younger brother. There's a reason why in many of Jesus' parables, he cuts through the external superficial religiousness, and he gets to the heart.

Remember what he says? If you look at a woman lustfully, he says, you have committed adultery. He says, if you hate your brother, he says, you committed murder in your heart. Now, of course, we're sophisticated enough to know that there is a difference between having lustful thoughts and actually committing adultery, to have a hard time loving somebody and hating somebody, to actually committing murder. We know the difference. But the reason why Jesus says what he says is because he's trying to open the eyes of these religious leaders who are completely blind because they gave all their attention to the external so that other people can see. As long as I have a good reputation, that's enough.

He allowed this bitterness and anger and pride and critical spirit, and he didn't recognize that as disobedience. He didn't recognize that as a rebellion against his father because he was there every day. He was serving. He was giving. There's a reason why so much of the scripture is fixated on who we are internally. The Bible says that the law was given for what purpose? To make sin utterly sinful. Because until you recognize the corruption of our own heart, not just what we're doing physically, not just we went down and did all the checkoff lists, but the corruption of our own heart, we don't need a savior. So the Messiah, they looked at the Messiah as saving us from Romans, saving us from poverty, saving us from this or that, not realizing the real problem was a corruption of their own heart.

And so when Jesus did not fulfill their desire, if he comes, we need his power to overthrow these pagans. They wanted him, but they didn't need him. The whole purpose of the law was to reveal our inner sins. In fact, what's interesting is, Apostle Paul is addressing the Judaizers in Philippians, and this is what he says, "Beware of the dogs. Beware of the evil workers. Beware of the false circumcision." Now, he's talking about the Judaizers who were pulling, and they're trying to add to the gospel. And he said, "Watch out for them." And look at how he calls them, "Beware of the dogs." These unclean animals. I mean, the Jews were constantly obsessed with being ceremonial clean. So this is one of the worst insults that you can give. Beware of these dogs. Beware of these evil workers. The whole reason why they were circumcised is so that they, in their mind, they're trying to be righteous. And he said, "Beware of the false circumcision." If you have the LSB, the word for false circumcision, literally means mutilators of the flesh. Isn't that interesting? The literal translation of this is "mutilation of the flesh." You have to understand what circumcision is. Circumcision was a covenant symbol placed upon a Jewish child, meaning that God's blessing is upon him. And you had to be circumcised in order to be a part of the Jews. In order to be at the temple. You know, even if you're a Gentile, you wanted to convert,

you had to get circumcised. So this was commanded by God. And yet Paul says, "All they are doing was mutilating the flesh." Because the purpose of the covenant symbol was an external, external activity that revealed what was happening inside. The reason why they gave sacrifice was an external obedience of a desire to repent and get back to God. But what the Jews were doing was simply external. There was nothing happening inside. Because they did not recognize a need for it. And they were only obedient externally. And completely unaware of what was happening inside. In Matthew 7:22-23, he says, "Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name cast out demons and in your name perform many miracles. And then I will declare to them, I never knew you.

Depart from me, you who practice lawlessness.'" There's a couple of things I want to point out here. He says, "You're doing prophecy. You're calling me Lord, Lord. You're even casting demons and performing miracles in my name." He says, "None of that had anything to do with me." But even beyond that, he says, "You who practice lawlessness." The whole thing that he just described was obedience to God. Casting out demons, performing miracles. He was doing all these things in the name of God. And he says, "Watch out for these who are practicing lawlessness." Because what God commanded them was not just physical obedience. See, this older brother was out working, laboring, giving. But his inside was filled with pride, bitterness, anger, critical spirit. And he was being just as disobedient as the younger brother. It's just that he never physically moved away. There's a reason why the Holy Spirit comes upon you. When you just look at the fruit of the Holy Spirit, it says, "Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness."

All of it is a transformation of what happens inwardly. And because there's a transformation that happens inwardly, we express it externally in obedience. So obedience, external obedience is a simple expression of what's happening inside. So you know that singing doesn't mean you're worshiping. You're just singing. Giving is not just worshiping. It's just giving. So you can come to church and sacrifice and labor and study the Bible. And at the end of it, Jesus says, "You don't know who I am." And that was the problem with the older brother. The older brother was so fixated on what he was doing, he didn't recognize the sin that is inside of him. You know, this is something that I've been meditating on for many years. And after years and years of dealing with people, even just wrestling with myself, I think the central sin that affects everything else that we do is pride. Pride that gets expressed through coveting. You don't covet until you start to compare. And you say, "They have it." And all of it, you're perfectly content until you go to someone else's house and they have something and then your pride kicks in and then you start coveting what they have. And I realize pride ruins everything. It ruins the way you study the Bible. It ruins the way you fellowship. It ruins the way you value certain things. Self-righteousness blinds us to where we really are.

Isaiah 29:13. Then the Lord said, "Because these people draw near with their words and honor me with their lip service, but they remove their hearts far from me and their reverence for me consists of tradition learned by rote." God commanded Israel to make sacrifices and yet he says, "These sacrifices mean nothing to me." God didn't ask that nation of Israel to make sacrifices because he loved barbecue. He liked the smell of animals on fire. Like that's why he wanted us to sacrifice. Or he's just a connoisseur of music. So when you have beautiful voices and you put it together and said, "I want to hear it. I love music." No. All of that was just an external expression of what's happening inside. Just like when two people get married, they can role play and light the candle and go through all the motions, but that's not, that's just an external expression of what's happening internally. And in the same way, a self-righteous person is only fixated in what he's doing on the outside. And that's how he saw himself. And according to what he did externally, he was righteous. And every other problem stems from this problem, that he did not see himself as a sinner.

And that's why they couldn't stand when the sinners in their eyes were coming to Jesus, that they didn't deserve this. We work so hard and we're not your disciple. We're the ones who obey the law, but why didn't you call us? Why aren't you conferring with us? Why isn't a single Pharisee among your disciple? Why are you allowing these sinners? Why do you have a tax collector among the twelve? All because he did not see his own sin. And his lack of ability or his blindness to see his own sin cause him to see his brother in a skewed lens. You know, the story begins, or at least that part of his part of it, where he's, it says it's in the, he's in the field working and then he goes to the house and he sees and hears the music, right? My guess is that the music gets up. Even before he heard why they were celebrating, it bothered him that they were doing anything but working, right? My guess is he is working his tail off. His heart is already not in a good condition, right? This, this younger brother who squandered a third of the wealth and who should have been helping him out in the field? His younger brother. But he's not here. And my, my dad's doing nothing about it. Instead of going after him and shaming him, he's just asking me to work. So he's already working and laboring with the condition of his heart, grumbling and complaining. And then when you're in that heart, when, when you're in that

position and you hear other people having fun, right? And they're partying. My guess is he's like, what do you think they were thinking? He's like, oh, I'm curious. Can I join this party? I don't think that's what he was thinking. I'll bet you he was thinking, why aren't they working? Even before he found out it was about his brother. I'm working my tail off and they're not helping. And that's exactly what happens when you are fixated on your righteousness. It bothers you that other people are not working as hard as hard as you are. And you're constantly grumbling and complaining. How come they're not coming out to this? How come they don't do this? When we have prayer meeting, you pray. And then next thing you know is that how come they didn't come out? You go out and evangelize and you evangelize, and then you look up. How come they didn't come out? I cleaned the church, but they didn't clean the church. I sacrificed, but they didn't sacrifice because of the condition of his own heart. That was his, that was this older brother. In Luke 18:11-12, it says the Pharisee stood and was praying this to himself, "God, I thank you that I am not like other people." You notice here that he's going to say, "Thank you for what you've given me." He said, "Thank God I'm not like those people." Because a self-righteous person doesn't compare his righteousness with God. A self-righteous person is always comparing his

righteousness with other people, and usually other people who are worse than them. "Thank God I'm not like those other people. The swindlers, unjust adulterers, and tax collectors." These are obvious sinners who are strayed from God, but "Thank God I'm not like them. I fast twice a week. I pay tithes of all that I get." And so his grumbling, his bitterness, and his complaint is because he's comparing himself with other sinners that he thinks is worse than him. You know, the easiest way to pull yourself up is to pull others down. You know what I mean? If you're playing king of the hill, it's harder to climb up. It's easier to grab the people going up and pull them down and get them below you. And so as the Pharisees were working to climb this religious righteous ladder, they were pulling everybody down with them.

Because their goal was not really to be righteous. Their goal was to be more righteous than others. And that's what happened with him. So when he saw his younger brother not living up to what he was doing, he was living with bitterness. In fact, what's interesting is when the servant explains to what happened, he says, "Your brother has come back." And that's why we're celebrating. So you see that even the servant is celebrating. "We're celebrating because your brother has come back." But then the way he describes it to the father is, "Your son." He doesn't say, "Why did you give my brother this?" He says, "Why did you allow your son? Why did you give it to him?" Even the way he described him, he's already disowned him in his own heart. Last week, we talked about how at that culture, they had this celebration called, or whatever, condemnation called Kezeza. And when a strained brother or whoever came back, they would break the pot between the father and the son to say, "We may receive you back as a servant, but you'll never be like one of us." Just like this pot is broken, this covenant relationship is broken forever.

Now that never happened, but in his heart, he already disowned his brother. He wouldn't even call him his brother. He says, "Your son." In Luke chapter 18:9, in Jesus, again, cutting through the external religiousness, it says, "And he also told this parable to some people who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and viewed others with contempt." A self-righteous person is constantly picking at what other people are doing wrong. And the reason why they're doing that is because they are above that. By bringing other people down, it makes you sit on top of them. That's what self-righteousness does. And that was the older brother. I mean, instead of breaking the pot, you put a robe on him, a ring on him, and then put a sandal on him. How could you do that? So not only his view of himself, his self-righteousness blinded himself to himself, it blinded the way that God viewed the son. Instead of having compassion, instead of understanding God's mission, he says, "No, he does not deserve that." And then ultimately, his self-righteousness skewed the way he viewed his father.

He says, "I've always done this, and I've always obeyed what? Your command." He saw God as a taskmaster. You notice here, he says, "I always obeyed what? Your command." He wasn't there helping out his father, his inheritance. It was not his home. It was not his work. I did what you said. You know what's interesting here? Is that when he calls the servant, the servant in Greek is pais. And that pais literally means child. So it was an affectionate way of somebody calling somebody subordinate. You know, what's interesting is the book of Acts, that word pais is used in reference to Jesus and the father. That Jesus is a child and God is his father. And the word pais is used to describe Jesus and his relationship.

But you know what word is used here when the son said, "I've served you all this time. I obeyed all your commandments." The word is doulos. The doulos in some of our modern translations is just, it's called, it's just servant. But the literal word for that is a slave. So if you have the LSB, the LSB version, it'll translate for you, the slave. Apostle Paul, when he introduces himself with the letter, he says, "The doulos of Jesus Christ, the slave." Now he means that affectionately, meaning that he's my lord and master and everything I'm telling you, I'm just obeying him. But the older brother is using it in a negative way. That all this time, he didn't serve him like a son. He didn't serve him as the heir of everything that the father has. He said, "No, I've been your slave all this time." And that's exactly how he felt.

That was what was going in his heart. I've been slave to you this whole time. And so he saw him as a taskmaster. And because he saw him as a taskmaster, he saw him as being unfair. I did all of this. And he went away and squandered your possession. And how can you do this for him? Look what he said in verse 29. He answered and said to the father, "Look, for so many years, I have been serving you. I have never neglected a command of yours. And yet you have never given me young goat so that I might celebrate with my friends." You notice here, everything he says is hyperbolic. "I always, all these years, you never, ever..." You know, one of the things that we talk about in marriage communication is don't talk when you're angry, right? Because when you talk, you're angry.

You say, "You never help out. You're always lazy." And so when you use these hyperbolic words, the other person automatically gets in the defensive mode. "You never help out." And the husband said, "Never. Yesterday morning, I took out the trash." You know what I mean? You don't remember last Thursday? And then so you end up fighting because of the way you're fighting. But the way you express things is an expression of what's happening in your heart. So the way that he, the older son, the way he even describes it, "I always, you never, for many years, I did everything, and you did nothing." How can you give him fattened calf? It's this precious thing that I've been working so hard to take care of, and you're going to give that to him? And you've never given me even a goat?

A lesser animal for what purpose? To celebrate with my friends. You notice here that Jesus always says that everything you do, you do for other people to see. You pray, you give, everything you do is so that you can present it to other people. You notice the older brother said, he's just like, "Oh, you didn't give it to me. You didn't express your love to me." He said, "No, you didn't give anything so I can show my friends." When we labor with the wrong heart, it always turns into bitterness.

Some of the most bitter people in the church are at one point, they served the most. They worked hard, they labored, they came to all the prayer meetings, they're the first one to show up to set up the church, and then something happened. They weren't appreciated, didn't turn out the way you wanted, maybe somebody said something insensitive to you, you were disappointed, and they said, "I'm never doing this again." So I'm not going to participate. So you don't want to walk away from God, you know, you have enough faith, well, you don't want to do that, but you're always kind of in the back, and like, "I'm never doing that again." And some of the most bitter people in the church are the people who have labored the hardest at one point in their life.

You know, what's interesting is, the Bible has three separate words, three different words. I mean, there's other words, but three prominent words for worship. The most prominent word is the word proskuneo. Proskuneo is, it basically literally means to prostrate oneself. So when we encounter the glory of God, we automatically prostrate, we surrender. That's just what happens. The second word that is used is sabomai. And sabomai basically means an internal reverence for God. Because we encounter this God, there's an interchange of what happens and how we view him. But the third word is the word latruo. Latruo oftentimes in the Bible is translated to serve. So if you look at Romans chapter 12, verse 2, he says, "In view of the mercy of God, to present your body as a living sacrifice, which is your spiritual act of worship." That last part, your living sacrifice is a spiritual act of worship, is all latruo. Meaning that our service to God is an act of worship is an act of worship. God doesn't just want us to just do it. He doesn't just want, "Just sing. Just come and sing. Just give." Everything that we do is an expression of our gratitude toward God. So somebody who has never met God, somebody who's never encountered God, can never really worship God. Because worship is not where you're at. Worship is not the songs that you sing. Worship is happening from within. That's why the Holy Spirit comes in and changes our inner being. And that's why a non-Christian

is described in Corinthians as someone where the God of this age has blinded the mind of the unbelievers so that they do not see the glory of the gospel of Jesus Christ. They have not seen God. But real worship is what's happening internally. And that was the problem with the older brother. In his mind, he was working toward his righteousness. I always did this. You never do this for me. You know what's interesting is in Malachi chapter 3:13-15, the Israelites returned back to their homeland. And so a small remnant of them risked their lives. They come back to rebuild the temple under Ezra and Nehemiah. So they come back and it wasn't easy because they had the Samaritans who wanted to join us and they you guys compromised and intermarried with the Assyrians. So you can't participate in that. And then they had the Assyrians who were living in Jerusalem. They didn't want the temple built. So as they are building, they have to constantly fight. So they had to fight tooth and nail to get this temple built. So at the end of the temple being built, they were expecting this tremendous blessing to come from God. But it never came. They just built the temple and then they're supposed to go worship.

And their hearts began to be filled with bitterness. We risked our lives and none of those people came. And we packed up our bags and left all our comfort and came here and sacrificed and did all of this. And where is God's blessing? And this is what God says to them in Malachi 3:13-15. "Your words have been arrogant against me, says the Lord. Yet you say, what have we spoken against you? You have said, it is vain to serve God. And what profit is it that we have kept his charge and that we have walked in mourning before the Lord of hosts? So now we call the arrogant blessed and not only are the doers of wickedness built up, but they also test God and escape." So we did all of this thing and God didn't change our circumstance. So what's the point then?

Why did I sacrifice? Why did I work so hard? Why did I leave a comfortable place in Babylon? And why did I come here? See, this is what happens with self-righteousness. Instead of worshiping God, we're giving to Him. He needs me. And I did everything. And you're not blessing me. Father says to the son, "You have always been with me. Your son has left. He was dead and now he's alive. He was lost. And now we found him." And he says, "You're asking me, why am I celebrating? The real question is, how come you're not celebrating? Your brother, your brother who was dead and came back to life. And why does that cause bitterness in you?" See, the older brother physically was with him, but inwardly, he was never near God.

He was just as far as the prodigal son when he was in rebellion. So you're complaining that he said, "Oh, well, I gave him the fattened calf, but you didn't even give me a goat." And he says, "You already had everything. Everything I had as yours. Why are you coveting the goat when it was already yours? Why are you coveting the fattened calf? It was already yours." It's because he didn't see it as his. He didn't see the father. He didn't see the father as he should have been seen. He was a taskmaster. He was unfair in his division. Everything is already yours. 2 Peter 1:3 says, "Everything that you need for life and godliness has been given to you in his son." But when we're self-righteous, we look at all of this and say, "You know, I sacrifice more than anybody else. And I'm serving. I'm evangelizing. I'm praying.

And why are those people doing that? Why are they being acknowledged? How come they're able to lead and they don't ask me to lead?" Instead, he said, "Everything that we do ought to be done as an act of worship." Because we have forgotten what it is that we have in Christ. It's like somebody who's been given, given a billion dollars and he's griping about his rent going up $50. And every time he meets, he doesn't talk about the billion dollars that he got, you would think that every time that somebody comes and you don't know, "Hey, I got a billion. You know that guy? You know, he told me to come, so I followed him and then, and then he just gave me a billion dollars. Like, why? I don't know.

I have a billion dollars." You would think that that's what would be coming out of his now. Instead, every time he meets somebody, he's like, "They're raising my rent. $50. That's not fair. Why am I being charged an extra $50?" And he said, "Wow, $50. That sounds like a lot. Can't you afford it?" He said, "Oh, I have money." "How much do you have?" "A billion dollars." "Oh, where'd you get it?" "Somebody gave it to me." "What? You got a billion dollars? And all I heard from you is why they're raising your rent for $50?" This is what self-righteousness does. We focus all our energy on what we don't have because we're constantly coveting, even the little that they have. If we really understand what we have in Christ, all of his is already ours.

Even if the worst possible scenario that you can possibly think of on this earth, you are co-heirs with Christ. You're going to be in eternity reigning with him. No matter what happens in this earth, whether I live today or die tomorrow, whether I live in poverty, whether I have disease, the worst possible thing that I can possibly think of, I won the spiritual lottery. And that my hope can never be shaken. No matter what injustice that I think that I may be experiencing here, it's in the context of God choosing me, an unworthy sinner, to be his child.

So why am I spending all my time talking about other people, unrighteousness, and how unfair life is? And what somebody did to you 10 years ago, in light of what he has done for us? You know, can you imagine what the younger brother must have been like after he came back home? You know, the younger brother, my guess is he's out the first meal that he's eating. You know what I mean? You know, you get spoiled with food, and people ask me what my favorite food is. I don't have one anymore, because whatever I wanted, I've eaten already. You know what I mean? I got tired of it. So when I go to a wedding, I like the hors d'oeuvres better than the meal, because it's different. You know what I mean?

Can you imagine what the brother was, the first whatever food he was eating? Because just a few weeks ago, or days ago, he was coveting the pig food. So whatever it was that his father gave him, I mean, he put ring on him, robe on him, sandals on him. Can you imagine the food that he was eating? And he's like, oh my gosh. I forgot how good this was. Can you imagine? He's out working out in the field, and he remembers what it was like feeding the pigs. And he was so hungry, he was coveting the pigs food. What he must have been like out there, working? Like, oh my gosh. You know, I thought I was going to be feeding pigs over here and living with the servants, but now I'm restored back. Can you imagine?

Even with his older brother. His older brother is like, ah, this guy doesn't deserve to be our, you know, child, and you don't deserve this. My guess is, the younger brother is like, you're right, I don't deserve any of this. I thought you were going to kick me out. You have every right to hate my guts. I did. I did squander a third of it. I don't deserve any of this. My guess is he became a true worshiper. He became a true worshiper. Because he knows everything that he has, he did not deserve.

That's what it says in Luke 17:10. So you too, when you do all the things which are commanded you, we are unworthy slaves. We have done only that which we ought to have done. 1 Corinthians 15:10. But by the grace of God, I am what I am. And his grace toward me did not prove vain, but I labored even more than all of them. Yet not I, but the grace of God within me. The grace of God doesn't nullify work. No, it says that because of the grace of God, I worked harder. And I imagine the younger brother worked hard because he was in the bottom. And then all of a sudden, he's restored. He's like, because he knows what he has. He's eating food with gratitude, thanking his dad. Philippians 2:13. For it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.

It is God. No matter how hard you work, you recognize it's not you, it's God. Colossians 1:29. For this purpose also I labor, striving according to his power, which mightily works within me. Apostle Paul at one point described himself blameless when he came to the law. But in 1 Timothy 1:15, he describes himself as the chief of sinners. How do you go from blameless, perfect, and then he says, "I'm a chief of sinners." What happened to him? He met Christ. He met Christ. That all the self-righteousness that he built up in light of the surpassing knowledge of knowing Jesus Christ, it became rubbish. He didn't work to be rubbish. He didn't memorize scripture to be rubbish. He just met Christ. And once he met Christ, he realized that all that he was working for was rubbish.

See, this older brother, the greatest hindrance to the gospel coming into Israel was self-righteousness. What ruins the church? I mean, it's both ways. I mean, you have people pulling on one side or the other. But one of the primary ways that we ruin the church, by hard work and laboring, is self-righteousness.

But when we recognize what it is that we have in Christ, what a privilege it is that you are sitting where you're at. What a privilege it is that I get to preach the gospel. Not I have to. I get to preach the gospel. That because of what Christ has done, you get to share your lives with other believers. That you get to be in a position where you're able to share the gospel with others. Instead of having to hear it, you get to preach it. And you get to come to church to support the ministry. But as soon as we lose that perspective, we end up spending all our time, "I did this, and how come they're not doing it? How come they're not doing this?"

As simple as that may be, if the older brother loved his father and loved his brother, he would be celebrating too. That was Jesus' point. You don't realize, Pharisees and scribes, who your God is. He rejoices over these sinners when they return. Because the ones they were dead and now they're alive. They were lost, now they're found. Come join me. Instead of grumbling and complaining, come join me in a celebration. You know what gets me here? Jesus doesn't send out his older brother. Jesus doesn't say to the older brother, "Get out." You know, I had to deal with the younger brother, and I just had it. You two, get out. No, he pleads with him. He pleads with him. Come join me in celebration. Isn't that a God you want to serve? Isn't that a God you want to worship? Right?

So my prayer is that whenever we join together at church on Sunday, focus on Christ. Don't focus on your task. Don't focus on changing the world or changing people. If you change, people around you will change. And if people around you will change, then the world will change. Amen? Let's pray. Father, we thank you for being merciful to us. Whether we are, we have tendency to be prodigal children who constantly run from you. Or whether we are like Judaizers. We're always working hard with bitterness and critical spirit. I thank you, Father God, that you're patient with us. I thank you, Father God, that you're merciful and that you endure with us. That we may cling to your promise. That you who began a good work in us will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ. So for that end, help us to fix our eyes upon Christ's words upon Christ, the author and perfecter of our faith. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

Let's all stand up for the closing praise. When the music fades When the music fades And all is stripped away And I simply come Longing just to bring I'll bring something Something that's of worth That will bless your heart I'll bring you more I'll bring you more than a song For a song in itself Is not what you have required You search much deeper within Through the way things appear You're looking into my heart I'm coming back to the heart of worship And it's all about you And it's all about you It's all about you, Jesus I'm sorry, Lord, for the thing I've made And it's all about you It's all about you, Jesus King of endless worth No one could express How much you deserve Though I'm weak and poor And all I have is yours Every single breath I'll bring you more than a song For a song in itself Is not what you have required You search much deeper within Through the way things appear You're looking into my heart It's all about you

I'm coming back to the heart of worship And it's all about you It's all about you, Jesus I'm sorry, Lord, for the thing I've made it But it's all about you It's all about you, Jesus I'm coming back to the heart of worship And it's all about you, Lord, for the thing I've made it And it's all about you, Lord, for the thing I've made it It's all about you, Jesus It's all about you, Jesus Let's pray Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling And to make you stand in the presence of his glory Blameless with great joy To the only God, our Savior Through Jesus Christ, our Lord Be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority Before all time, and now, and forever Amen God sent his house They called him Jesus He came to love Heal and forgive Heal and forgive To by my father An empty grave is there to My Savior lives Because he lives I can face tomorrow Because he lives All fear is gone Because I know

He holds the future And life is worth the living Just because he lives Just because he lives Now pray Thank you. Thank you.