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A Private Pity Party

Luke 15: 25-32

INTRODUCTION:

  • Anytime we consider this parable of the prodigal son, our attention just automatically moves in the direction of the younger,
  • rebel son who left his father’s house and went into a far country and wasted his substance on riotous living.
  • In this message, however, I want us focus on the elder son,
  • who never physically left home.
  • There is a tremendous lesson to be learned from the attitudes and actions of the elder son.
  1. The Virtues of the Elder Brother.
  2. Possesses a number of excellent qualities.
  3. Industrious.

Luke 15:25 (King James Version)
25 Now his elder son was in the field: and as he came and drew nigh to the house, he heard musick and dancing.

Luke 15:29 (King James Version)
29 And he answering said to his father, Lo, these many years do I serve thee, neither transgressed I at any time thy commandment: and yet thou never gavest me a kid, that I might make merry with my friends:

  1. INHERITANCE MANAGEMENT.
  2. The Elder brother had not been "wasteful" like the younger.

Luke 15:13 (King James Version)
13 And not many days after the younger son gathered all together, and took his journey into a far country, and there wasted his substance with riotous living.

  1. High moral standards.
  2. The Elder brother had not lived with harlotslike the younger.
  1. Always pointing attention to someone else when confronted with sin and bad behavior.
  2. But as soon as this thy son was come, which hath devoured thy living with harlots
  1. The Elder son was agood boy.
  1. The Weaknesses of the Elder Brother.
  2. He was a sinner
  3. Envious
  4. Bad tempered
  5. Self-centered
  6. He was Suspicious.

Luke 15:26 (King James Version)
26 And he called one of the servants, and asked what these things meant.

  1. He was Self-righteous.
  2. "Holier than thou."

Luke 15:28 (King James Version)
28 And he was angry, and would not go in: therefore came his father out, and intreated him.

  1. He waddled in Self-pity.

Luke 15:29-30 (King James Version)
29 And he answering said to his father, Lo, these many years do I serve thee, neither transgressed I at any time thy commandment: and yet thou never gavest me a kid, that I might make merry with my friends:
30 But as soon as this thy son was come, which hath devoured thy living with harlots, thou hast killed for him the fatted calf.

  1. [Elder son got 2/3 of estate]
  2. Self-pity destroys
  3. self’s sense of value.
  4. happiness.
  5. fellowship.
  6. one’s usefulness.
  7. This elder son was ‘outside’ the house and would not ‘come in.’
  8. SO MANY FAMILY ARE BUSTED UP BECAUSE OF SELF PITY
  1. CONCLUSION:
  2. A WRONG ATTITUDE KEPT THE ELDER BROTHER AWAY FROM:
  3. The heart's desire of the father,
  4. The love of his brother and
  5. The joy of the servants.
  6. WRONG ATTITUDES IN OUR LIVES WILL BLOCK THE BLESSINGS OF GOD AND CAUSE US TO LIVE BELOW GOD'S POTENTIAL FOR OUR LIVES.