The following, is what I composed for a recent talk that I gave as part of a series on the parable of the prodigal son. As a means of drawing out the underlying themes of the passage I asked the question; What is the source of the strife and conflict that is depicted for the two sons? What does the story indicate is the problem for these two characters?
The younger son deeply offends his father by asking for his inheritance early (while his father is still alive!). This is an outrageous request, he is not asking for financial assistance to purchase something, or for his father to pay for a trip for him. No, he wants what he has coming and he wants it now, so that he can spend it on his pleasure without thought of his father's wishes. This is spiteful, insolent and malicious. Why did he do this? Could he not just get by at home, dodging his work, drinking too much and fraternizing the local girls? Why did he turn on his father in this way?
It must be that his desire to shape his own destiny became what would define him. A future full of pleasure, with no rules, no authority and no pressure to conform to someone else's idea of who he should be is what awaited him once he had the resources. He probably didn't want to hurt his father in the beginning. Its just that as time went by it seemed more and more difficult to live up to the pattern that his older brother had set. His brother was always so good. As the first born son he seemed to get all the best things first and this younger son would get the seconds. Plus, he was the one that got the worst jobs dumped on him and the least amount of recognition. So, he knew that if he could get his share then he would be home free. The thing is that he had to totally disrespect his father.
What is the ultimate motivation for this kind of sin? There is no indication that this father had ever treated his sons with anything but love and acceptance. This cannot therefore be assumed to be a crime of retaliation or as an escape from an abusive home. Actually, the fact that the younger son asked for his inheritance and thought that he might receive it says something about the kind of father he had. No, family breaking sin, father crushing sin comes from a misplaced love. St Augustine is famously quoted as saying that we murder not because we hate but because we love something too much; our pride has been injured, our beloved has been wooed by another suitor, or our wealth is being threatened.
What about the older son? What did he do wrong? Apparently, at least in his mind, nothing. At his father's acceptance of his wayward younger brother. this son gets angry. Why is he angry and what does that tell us about him? He seems to indicate that he is upset over the father's generosity to his brother. He does not mention the disgrace that would have been overlooked. He does not want to defend his family's image and insist that his brother should not be so quickly forgiven. He instead seems deeply concerned that his father has given his younger brother a party and that this represents some inequality. His position, status and wealth are at stake. He is offended that even though he "never disobeyed an order" his father has not given him this kind of lavish celebration. If their father will treat his younger son this way given his poor record of behaviour, then his trust in his good record earning him favour and position is being destroyed. The older son's response is deeply painful and sinful. He first refuses to attend the party, an insult to his father, then when confronted by his father he lashes out exposing a greedy underbelly to his good behaviour.
Both sons fell prey to idols. They found their identity outside of being sons of their father and they wanted to take what they could from him to serve their desires. This is a temptation for all people. We are made to worship and we do it even if we aren't religious. Often the primary object of our worship is self. And our worship of self is often tied to some kind of internal process of thought. We use everything around us to make us feel good, to give ourselves a sense of security, to identify who we believe we really are. This has always been a problem:
The Tower of Babel - Genesis 11:4
"Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves and not be scattered over the face of the whole earth."
The Nation of Israel Under the Judges - Judges 3:7
"The Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord; they forgot the Lord their God and served the Baals and the Asherahs."
The Nation of Israel Under the Kings - 2 Chronicles 28:1,2
"Ahaz was twenty years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem sixteen years. Unlike David his father, he did not do what was right in the eyes of the Lord. He walked in the ways of the kings of Israel and also made cast idols for worshiping the Baals."
The Christian Church - Galatians 4:8,9
"Formerly, when you did not know God, you were slaves to those who by nature are not gods. But now that you know God-or rather are known by God-how is it that you are turning back to those weak and miserable principles? Do you wish to be enslaved by them all over again?"
How can we expose the presence of idols in our lives? I think that one way, which I have taken from Tim Keller and Edmund Clowney, is by seeing our breaking of the ten commandments 3-10 as actually ultimately breaking the first two, that is to have no other God besides Yahweh and to not make for ourselves any idols or worship them. Lets take a couple of minutes to look at the ten commandments. If you have your Bibles turn with me to Exodus 20.
1. You shall have no other Gods before me.
Here God introduces himself as "the Lord your God", adding that he was the one to bring them out of slavery. That is the God of redemption.
2. You shall not make for yourself an idol. or worship it.
He declares himself to be jealous, an attribute that coincides with true love.
3. You shall not use God's name in vain.
To do so denies the power of his name. It takes something special and makes it common. It essentially brings him down and makes him equal to other things, at least in your speaking of him.
4. Remember the sabbath (day of rest), to keep it holy.
Taking at least one day off of work, labour and striving gives consideration to the fact that God is God and he is sovereign and in control. No one else can compare to him in this sense.
5. Honour your father and mother.
Respect for authority is essential in teaching us to relate to God. If we cannot submit to the most essential of human authorities how will we submit to God?
6. You shall not murder.
Anger that leads to violence is ultimately the result of a god-complex and we are asserting ourselves. We must trust God to fulfil his word, "vengeance is mine, I will repay". Or there is something that we value way too much and are afraid of losing it.
7. You shall not commit adultery.
God ought to be our all satisfying pleasure. Sexual sin comes as a result of wanting to be made much of and failing to see that God has already made much of us. And he wishes our marriages to echo the faithfulness of himself to his "pure and spotless bride" the church.
8. You shall not steal.
We need to learn to trust God to be the provider of our wealth. Our tax evading, illegal media duplicating and ducking out of work early are all efforts to get good things at someone else's cost instead of trusting Jesus to meet our needs.
9. You shall not give false testimony (lie).
The lies we tell are representative of failing to trust God for the effects of the truth. And when we tell lies to hide the truth about our own shortcomings we are ignoring God's grace and resisting the need for repentance.
10. You shall not covet.
Wanting others things, relationships, positions etc are ignoring the greatest gift of eternal life in Christ and failing to be satisfied by him.
To sum up this list an idol can also be described as a functional saviour. That is, something that we turn to at a difficult point in our journey to "save" us or to make us feel good. Jesus is the only worthy saviour, and the only one who actually does save us and meets our every need. Idols always leave us wanting.
What can we do about this? Does the parable offer us any clues? It surely does give us help. Like the younger son we need to run to our father. And the Scriptures make it very clear, the way to get to God is Jesus. Even for those of you who have been Christians a long time, there is a constant need to refocus on Christ. The idols were always creeping in for the people of Israel, and they had success when they were proactive. When they went to war against anything that would be worshiped instead of the one true God.
I have been reading "The City of God" by St Augustine and in it he spends great energy describing the pagan rituals and beliefs and the silliness of thinking that these false gods would offer any hope. He points out something that I found very interesting, given that this book is 1600 years old, that the primary way of promoting the false gods was through entertainment. The greek tragedies describe the escapades of the pantheon of gods and the citizens of the Roman empire attended these as their chief form of entertainment. Augustine pulls no punches in declaring that this propagation is the work of demons. It is safe to say, demons are at work to encourage idolatry by influencing culture, media and general perceptions. Resulting in the guiding and correcting influence of conscience, Scripture and the Holy Spirit being ignored and forgotten. Maybe, just maybe, that realization could cause us to be more critical of our entertainment diet. Are we enjoying web content, television, music and movies that feed our idols? Its safe to say that in this era of media overload we could all make better choices. But, that's nothing new. Take the song "Build Me Up Buttercup" by the Foundations its from 1968. I was listening to it this week and the lyrics go like this:
"…Why do you build me up, Buttercup baby,
just to let me down and mess me around.
And then worst of all, you never call baby,
when you say you will, (say you will) but I love you still.
I need you (I need you) more than anyone darling
you know that I have right from the start.
So, build me up Buttercup, don't break my heart…"
Take it from this guy, relationships make terrible idols.
So, what do we do?
The answer is so simple, that it might seem trite to even say it. Seek Jesus first, "and all these things will be given to you" (Matt 6:33). But its not always that easy for many people their idols are too important. So we need to be reminded of the promises that are available to those who believe in the Gospel, that Jesus came to seek and save those who are lost!
"Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened." (Matt 7:7,8)
Jesus is everything seek him and he will reward you (Hebrews 11:6)
Pray to God. Be bold, because Jesus lives to petition God on our behalf. You might need to come to Christ for the first time. If so, don't wait just do it, ask him to meet you where you are. To show himself to you and to give you the strength to open the door for him to come into you.
Or you might be a follower of Christ, maybe even for a long time and you are just feeling dry and stale. Go to him, claim his promise to answer your prayer and fill your heart with more love. Ask for a Mount Carmel experience to show his superiority to the idols in your life. I take great encouragement when I hear about the prayer life of others and one of my favourites is Jonathan Edwards, an 18th century pastor and theologian, in his journal he writes the following:
"From about that time, I began to have a new kind of apprehensions and ideas of Christ, and the work of redemption and the glorious way of salvation by him… I walked abroad alone, in a solitary place in my father's pasture, for contemplation. And as I was walking there, and looking up on the sky and clouds, there came into my mind so sweet a sense of the glorious majesty and grace of God… I felt God, so to speak, at the first appearance of a thunder storm; and used to take the opportunity, at such times, to fix myself in order to view the clouds, and see the lightnings play, and hear the majestic and awful voice of God's thunder, which often times was exceedingly entertaining, leading me to sweet contemplations of my great and glorious God."
Jonathan Edwards, Personal Narrative
