But he answered his father, ‘Look, all these years I have served you and never disobeyed a commandment of yours. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends.But he answered his father, ‘Behold, these many years I have served you, and I never disobeyed a commandment of yours, but you never gave me a goat, that I might celebrate with my friends.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:But he answered and said to his father, Lo, these many years do I serve thee, and I never transgressed a commandment of thine; and yet thou never gavest me a kid, that I might make merry with my friends:
4 sermons cite this verse
… Jesus continued, and there was a man who had two sons. the younger one said to his father, Father, give me my share of the estate. So he divided his property between them. And not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country, and there squandered his wealth in wild living. After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything. When he came to his senses, he said, how many of my father's hired servants have food to spare? And here I am starving to death. I will set out and go back to my father and say to him, father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. …
… he has him back safe and sound. The older brother became angry and fused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him. But he answered his father, look, all these years I've been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. But when the son of yours who was squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him? My son, the father said, you are always with me. Everything I have is yours, but we had to celebrate and be glad because his brother of yours was dead and alive again and is lost and is now found. Worship team, you can come join me. My last point today is that his celebration is an open invitation. Will you join him? There are many of you here today, you've been coming to church for a while or your whole life. Or maybe you've never heard the good news of Jesus, and I'm here to tell you today, though. …
… but the older son, he struggles with this concept. And it says in Luke 15, verse 29, the older brother says, he answered his father and he says, look, all these years I've been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. I've been performing. I've been doing the right thing. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. But when the son of yours, this younger brother who has squandered your property with prostitute comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him. My son, the father said, you are always with me and everything I have is yours. Everything I have is yours. This older brother, he represents us who's still trying to earn everything that we have. he's living in the father's house. He's living the comfortable, good life, but he still has a servant's mindset. He's working for love instead of from love. And grace, it breaks that pressure of performance off of us. Grace, it eliminates us saying, I have to impress or perform for God because he already picked us, amen? …
… but he answered his father, look, all these years I've been slaving for you and never disobeyed you, your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours, have you said that before? This son of yours, when this son of yours, who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him. My son, the father said, you are always with me and everything I have is yours. 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. I think you're not surprised when I tell you that my college pastor said, Annie, you're the older brother. The problem here, the reason your family is experiencing you the way they are is because you're the older brother. You think you deserve something different. You think she deserves something different. You've been slaving in the fields. You don't want anybody else to get party. He was right. I was mad. I'd always been the good girl doing the right thing. Other people not doing the right thing suddenly were getting celebrated. And I was angry. I almost said, pissed. …