The Little Big Brother
Luke 15:25-32
By Ron Rasmussen

Some children never get enough. Are you one of those? When did you last recognize a gift from the Lord? You didn’t make the sun rise today, did you? You didn’t provide your family with excellent health, did you? You didn’t secure your salvation for all eternity, did you? Or did you?

One of the joys of spring and summer for many of us is the backyard visits of the hummingbird. Some of you even put out feeders for them, then you sit back and make cute comments about these sweet little birds.

I picked up an article recently on these minute creatures of the air. It had an interesting title: So Tiny, So Sweet… So Mean.(1)  I quote: "…Hummingbirds are among the smallest warm blooded animals on earth and… they are also among the meanest."

Apparently they have to consume 7,000-12,000 calories per day. That’s the equivalent of a 180 pound man requiring 170 pounds of hamburger daily! I guess it takes a lot of energy to keep those little wings flapping at such high speeds.

Audubon himself once likened them to "glittering fragments of the rainbow." But one bird watcher said, "People think they’re little fairies… but they’re actually fighter pilots in small bodies." He said, "We’ve seen one hummingbird knock another out of the air, and stab it with its bill."

A caption next to the picture of a broad-billed specimen said, "the delicate splendor of the hummingbird… belies its combative nature. Fiercely territorial, these feisty little birds will spar for a sweet spot of nectar."

A scientific paper on the birds included this endearing notation: "Social behavior: None. Individual survival seems only concern."

The world of this small creature is very small. He only cares about himself. (Remember those words "fiercely territorial.")

Which brings us to a prominent character in the second half of a familiar story in Luke 15. The Prodigal’s brother, that is, the older brother of the lost son whose story is so well known. He’s the older brother in the story but we’re calling him "The Little Big Brother" because:

- His world is so small.

- Individual survival is his chief concern – he is fiercely territorial.

- He is extremely self-centered.

What I want you to see in this message is this: the self-centered live in a small world.

Most people are familiar with verses 11-24 that tell of the Prodigal Son or the Lost Son. The reason Jesus told that story and the two before it is because of what happened at the beginning of the chapter. Jesus was criticized. The religious leaders said, "He welcomes sinners and he even eats with them." So, based on that criticism, Jesus told three stories – the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the lost son - all to say to them that God cares about what may seem insignificant and sinful to many. He cares about what is lost. Let’s read the text.

The Prodigal’s brother really can’t see his father’s point because the self-centered live in a small world. They have an inward focus.

I want to describe to you the small world of the self-centered.

Do you see that in verse 28: "He became angry…."

His brother is home! He’s safe! His father has said that it’s time to be glad! But he’s angry - too angry even to go ahead and attend the party and fake some joy.

Joseph Stowell, President of Moody Bible Institute, preached a message on this passage and began it by saying, "I have never known a time when Christians have been more mad about more things than we are now… We’re angry about values, politics, television, media, education, the violation of the unborn, condoms and criminals… We’re shouting more… we’re shooting at doctors of abortion clinics… Publicly we are perceived to be long on madness and short on mercy… We’ve become grumbling warriors instead of committed seekers."

There is some truth to Mr. Stowell’s assessment. Yes, some situations do call for righteous anger. But be careful. It is easy to allow that to spill over into selfish anger – directed not at the sin but at the sinner. Such anger quickly becomes judgmental.

Do you see the judgmental attitude of the older brother. The text says in verse 28, "he refused to go in."

Now by refusing to go in, he denied himself fellowship with the father, because the father was in there celebrating the return of the lost son. The older son refuses to go in. He’s too angry and judgmental.

Another judgmental statement is in verse 30: "…this son of yours." That’s like when husbands say to their wives or wives say to their husbands, "Your son is causing some problems. Go take care of your son." He doesn’t call him "my brother." Why? He’s too judgmental.

What I'm going to say next isn’t scripture. This is just me saying this: Be liberal with who you call brother, but be very conservative with who you call teacher. Have an open heart, but have a clear mind. And be cautious about who you will call your teacher.

Here this older boy can’t even call the one who is his brother, his brother!

Judgmental statements:

And what about this one in verse 30: "[He] squandered your property with prostitutes."

How does he know that? It’s not in the story. Jesus doesn’t say that. It says he was involved with loose living. He may have been involved with prostitutes but we don’t know that.

The son is guessing. He’s angry.

And remember this: Often we are most suspicious of those who commit the very sins that we ourselves are guilty of.

Anger becomes judgmental and then it can grow so large that it consumes us.

I read about a man who was having trouble controlling his anger and he went to a Christian counselor. She asked him a very simple question: What would your life look like if you got rid of your anger?" He said, "If I get rid of my anger, what will I have left?"

Anger can totally control us. How much of you is your anger? How much of you would be left if your anger left?

Self-centered people are angry a lot. I read about a little town called Rudyard, Montana. They vote every year on who is the grumpiest town resident. They have this sign at the entrance of the town that read, "596 nice people, one old sorehead."

It's really just a good natured event they use to raise funds for a local museum and park. But what if they took a vote on you? What if they took a vote at your place of employment? What if they took a vote in your family? What if they took a vote in your church? Would you win the grumpy prize? Would you win the angry prize?

The self-centered live in a small world. It’s a world of anger. It’s also:

Do you see the phrase in verse 25? Where was the older brother? It says he was "in the field." OK. That’s alright. But look at verse 29. He uses the word "slaving."

Talking to his father about his work, he doesn’t call it serving. He calls it slaving. "I’ve been slaving" he says in verse 29. Doesn’t that give us some insight into the older brother’s attitude?

Here’s another little statement he makes in verse 29: "I’ve never disobeyed."

What? Can you believe that? This isn’t Jesus speaking. This is one of us. I think we have a bit of exaggeration here.

I think this also indicates a letter of the law approach with his dad. "I’m a hard worker. I’m responsible. I’m a rules keeper."

Does that describe you? It’s good to be all those. But you can get out of balance if your self-centeredness allows you to so that you begin thinking that you’re earning your Heavenly Father’s approval.

This is an interesting study. The Prodigal is inside the house enjoying the unearned favor of his father. The older brother is still out in the field, refusing to go in, still trying to earn the favor of his father.

A man walked into a Topeka, Kansas Kwik Stop and asked for all the money in the cash drawer. Apparently the take was too small, so he tied up the store clerk and worked the counter himself for three hours until police showed up and arrested him!

Some people just can’t stop working. They can’t get enough work. Their mindset is "work, work, work!"

Dust if you must,
But wouldn’t it be better
To paint a picture, or write a letter,
Bake a cake, or plant a seed,
Ponder the difference between want and need?

Dust if you must,
But there is not much time,
With rivers to swim and mountains to climb!
Music to hear, and books to read
Friends to cherish and life to lead.

Dust if you must,
But the world’s out there
With the sun in your eyes, the wind in your hair,
A flutter of snow, a shower or rain,
This day will not come round again.

Dust if you must,
But bear in mind,
Old age will come and it’s not kind.
And when you go, and go you must,
You, yourself, will make more dust.(2)

Hilton Generational Time Survey in January of 2001 published this in USA Today:(3)

Overworked Americans: Percentage of Americans who say they:

Wayne Smith says, "When Satan cannot make us bad, he makes us busy."

It’s good to be busy. It’s good to work. But take a good look at why you’re working. Why do you work for the Lord? Are you slaving for Him or are you serving Him?

If you can figure out why you work for Him, it will tell you something about the size of your world. It will tell you something about whether or not you’re self-centered. The self-centered, you see, live in a small world. It’s a world of anger. It’s a world of works. Here’s something else:

Look again at verse 29: "You never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends."

When I read that this past week I asked myself, "Who would want to be his friend?" But apparently he had some.

I want you to compare this statement in verse 29, "You never gave me" with verse 31. Look at it again. "‘My son,’ the father said, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours.’"

This boy has a problem with ingratitude.

Some children never get enough. Are you one of those? When did you last recognize a gift from the Lord? You didn’t make the sun rise today, did you? You didn’t provide your family with excellent health, did you? You didn’t secure your salvation for all eternity, did you? Or did you?

The self-centered begin to think they did – and therefore, they have no one to thank but themselves.

- Do you have trouble saying "thank you?"

- Do you consistently give back a portion of your income to the Lord, not because the church has needs but because you understand Him when He says, "Everything I have is yours" and as a result you have gratitude so you give something back?

If your answer to those questions is "no," you’re struggling not so much with ingratitude but with self-centeredness. You see, it’s just a description of the small world of the self-centered. A world of anger, a world of works, a world of ingratitude… one more. We’re talking about the world of the self-centered.

Verse 30 says, "You killed the fattened calf for him!" Earlier it says, in essence, "I never got so much as a skinny goat!"

By the way, who hated most to see the lost son come home? You say, "The older brother." No, it was the calf!

Note the sickeningly high levels of envy here. This is embarrassingly immature of the older brother. He’s almost whining. The envious whine.

I love the definition of I still remember from a class I took years ago. It’s the definition of envy: "To be pained at another’s good fortune." That’s exactly what is happening here.

Do you see yourself as a wrecker or a salvage truck? When you head out daily on the highway of life an you come upon a ruined life that’s just experienced another head-on collision with sin, what’s your mission? To search and destroy or to seek and to save?

Jesus said, "I have come to seek and to save that which was lost."

That’s why He’s telling this story, and He knows that He is telling it to people who are on a search and destroy mission because of their own self-centeredness. Are you pained at another brother or sister’s good fortune – especially if you’re convinced that they’re much more sinful than you are? Watch out! It’s a mark of self-centeredness.

The self-centered live in a small world. It’s a world of anger and works and ingratitude and envy.

The big world is also described in this story. It’s in verse 32: "But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found."

Dead and alive – lost and found – this is God’s perspective! It’s big. It’s God’s big world. Not good and bad. Not right and wrong. Not rich and poor. Not clean and dirty. These are our descriptions. These are the descriptions of the small-world people.

God looks and He sees lost and found. Welcome to God’s world. Step into God’s world. See what He sees as Jesus describes it in these verses. The big world of lost and found. Hey, if you’re found, you still have some problems. We still have people who are struggling in the church. God sees lost and found. What do you see? How big is your world? That’s what this is all about. That’s why Jesus told this story.

Footnotes: Please use your "back" button to return to your place.

1. Reader’s Digest, May 2001, p. 144 ff.
2. Author unknown.
3. Hilton Generational Time Survey, January 2001; published in USA Today.

All Scripture Quotes are from the New International Version unless otherwise specified.

Permission is granted to subscribers of The Preacher's Study to use this document in total or in sermon preparation in the context of the local congregation only. Publishing it in a book, on the Internet, or anyplace beyond the local congregation is prohibited. The author of this sermon, Ron Rasmussen,  may be reached at: rjrass@juno.com.