Two Sons, Two Sins

A rather interesting thing I saw in reading this morning.  A very famous passage about the Prodigal Son.  But it was not just about the one Son who went away. 

It was about both Sons and the Father.

There is the one who did what he did and ran off.  Then there's the other that did not.  The Father's love for both, to him, was to allow his son's to discover truth on their own.  What was interesting is by going down the road that the fallen one had, and returning to his Father, that one found the truth.  The other who was there the whole time had to have it explained to him that he missed it.

There is a truth in that just because you follow everything and do everything that is 'expected' of you it doesn't follow that it's obedience. 

The Pharisees and Sadducees are prime examples.  Move into today.  There are a great many today who think they are giving service to God but do it with wrong motives.  A great many? Yes. In Matthew Jesus tells a great multitude to depart from Him.  The same multitude who say to depart from Him.

Matthew 25 “Then He will also say to those on His left, ‘Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels; for I was hungry, and you gave Me nothing to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me nothing to drink;I was a stranger, and you did not invite Me in; naked, and you did not clothe Me; sick, and in prison, and you did not visit Me.’ Then they themselves also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not take care of You?’ Then He will answer them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.’ These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

The second son thought all his years of service were better than his brother's life that was squandered.  Yet from his own mouth he mentions his own partying ways with his friends.  Something tells me his own obedience was on the surface. Knowing that just by doing just enough, he would stay in the good graces of his Father and still inherit what was left. 

Interesting to me is this can be overlaid with the history of Israel.  How the kings changed from one kind to another.  One squandering the wealth of Israel or the status of Israel to those who obeyed and back again. 

It isn't enough to have head knowledge of God, of the procedures to follow.  To have surface obedience.  To do what's expected.  To act like you are worshipping on Sunday and live your way during the week.  Ignoring Jesus,  living like your own self wants to.

If you aren't to the point of true obedience then you are not obeying. 

If you are not acknowledging that you are indeed a sinful person in need of a Savior, then all your deeds mean nothing.  If Jesus has not become your Savior and Lord your life of doing what you want means nothing.  If you only do what you want your life means nothing in the light of Christ.  Letting go of every single thing that is between you and God is necessary.
You cannot hold a cross and your world too.

A life that only looks like it's obedience isn't a life that's a relationship with God.

I want to be told the earlier part of Matthew 25.

Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in;naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me.’ Then the righteous will answer Him, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and give You something to drink? And when did we see You a stranger, and invite You in, or naked, and clothe You?When did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ The King will answer and say to them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.’

Both sons had a sin.  Both are the kinds of people in this world.  Both have a conversation with their Father. 

We don't know the rest of the story about these sons, but if the Father got through to the second Son then maybe his life was changed too.

He evidently was there all those years and still missed a real relationship with his Father.  He missed the life lesson his brother got.