Considering Sin and Lostness

I’m not sure if enjoying is the right word.  I guess the right word would be benefitting.  I am greatly benefitting from my reading of The Prodigal God by Tim Keller.  He is able to expand on some ideas found in his sermons on the Parable of the Lost Sons.  He develops a better understanding of both sin and lostness.

We tend to tie sin in with rebellion- which it is.  But sin is craftier than that.  It can look like obedience!

It is not his sins that create the barrier between him and his father, it’s the pride he has in his moral record; it’s not his wrongdoing but his righteousness that is keeping him from sharing in the feast of the father.

His obedience produces a pride that keeps him apart from his father and younger brother.  Sin can work thru “obedience” to keeps us from Christ and His people.  We seek to save ourselves.  This is the work of the religious fanatic Martin Luther said lives in each of us, the default of our hearts, trying to earn merit before God.

You can avoid Jesus as Savior by keeping all the moral laws.  If you do that, then you have “rights.”  God owes you answered prayer, and a good life, and a ticket to heaven when you die.  You don’t need a Savior who pardons you by free grace, for you are your own Savior.

Because sin is not just breaking the rules, it is putting yourself in the place of God as Savior, Lord, and Judge just as each son sought to displace the authority of the father in his own life.

Keller continues to say that these 2 conditions are not equal.  It is easier for the licentious to see his sin and seek to return home.  The legalist thinks he already is home!  He is more blind to his sin because he looks so good.

What are the signs of an elder brother (legalist, self-righteous, Pharisee)?

The first sign you have an elder-brother spirit is that when your life doesn’t go as you want, you aren’t just sorrowful but deeply angry and bitter.

Keller notes this can function in 2 ways.  If I perceive I have been obedient- I am angry with God and rage against him.  If I perceive I have not been obedient- I am angry with myself and become filled with self-loathing.  Hey, been there, done that- and still take trips there.

Elder brothers base their self-images on being hardworking, or moral, or members of an elite clan, or extremely smart and savvy.  This inevitably leads to feeling superior to those who don’t have those same qualities.  In fact, competitive comparison is the main way elder brothers achieve a sense of their own significance.  Racism and classism are just different versions of this form of the self-salvation project.

Ouch- that hurts!  I remember as a Middle School student being asked if I like BTO by a parent on the way home from a basketball game.  I felt utterly embarassed not knowing he was referring to Bachman-Turner Overdrive of Taking Care of Business fame.  I never wanted to experience that public humiliation (exaggerated by my pride) again.  I began to derive my significance from being “in the know.”  This is how our hearts work.

Ultimately, elder brothers live good lives out of fear, not out of joy and love. … Elder brothers may do good to others, but not out of delight in the deeds themselves or for the love of people or the pleasure of God.

They live as slaves, and in great fear and emptiness.  All they seek can never satisfy them, just as the pleasure the licentious seek can’t satisfy them.  They surrender their hearts to idols that can’t save or satisfy- who demand their lives but offer nothing in return.

The last sign of the elder-brother spirit is a lack of assurance of the father’s love. … But perhaps the clearest symptom of this lack of assurance is a dry prayer life.

Many of us seek approval- having never, or rarely, received it from our fathers.  We are emotional cripples- and spiritual cripples.  We try to hoist ourselves up because we don’t really believe the Father will lift us up.  We do not delight in Him (violating the greatest commandment, so all our obedience is self-centered and sinful).  Keller sums it all up:

Elder brothers have an undercurrent of anger toward life circumstances, hold grudges long and bitterly, look down at people of other races, religions, and lifestyles, experience life as a joyless, crushing drudgery, have little intimacy and joy in their prayer lives, and have a deep insecurity that makes them overly sensitive to criticism and rejection yet fierce and merciless in condemning others.

As Keller goes on to say in the next chapter is that only the True Elder Brother, Jesus, can deliver us from either licentiousness or legalism.  Only He can return my heart to the Father.