What do we do when someone who betrayed us returns?
This person ran away from the Father, His purposes, work and His ways.
What do you do when he returns?
What did our Lord do when His disciples who had run away met Him again?
– He gave them food (Nourished them)
– Restored them to their position of honour
– Set them in the right direction
John 21:6 Then he said, “Throw out your net on the right-hand side of the boat, and you’ll get some!” So they did, and they couldn’t haul in the net because there were so many fish in it.
John 21:9 When they got there, they found breakfast waiting for them—fish cooking over a charcoal fire, and some bread.
John 21:15 After breakfast Jesus asked Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?
John 21:17 Jesus said, “Then feed my sheep.
The easiest thing to do is to stay angry with your prodigal brother.
One of the first issues addressed in the Sermon on the mount by Lord Jesus is anger against one’s brother.
When God was dwelling with fallen man in the Garden of Eden His first dealing was with the issue of anger.
Genesis 4:6 The Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry, and why has your face fallen? If you do well, will you not be accepted? And, if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is contrary to you, but you must rule over it.”
Holding on to anger causes us to sin. It harbours a murderous spirit. You will be sent out of the Father’s Presence.
Genesis 4:11, 12 And now you are cursed from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. When you work the ground, it shall no longer yield to you its strength. You shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth.”
Whatever work you do with anger towards your brother in your heart will not be blessed.
Contrast this with
Genesis 26:12 Isaac planted crops in that land and the same year reaped a hundredfold, because the Lord blessed him.
God’s is pleased when we are a peacemaker. Being a peaceful man does not imply weakness.
Genesis 26:16-22 Then Abimelek said to Isaac, “Move away from us; you have become too powerful for us.”
So Isaac moved away from there and encamped in the Valley of Gerar, where he settled. Isaac reopened the wells that had been dug in the time of his father Abraham, which the Philistines had stopped up after Abraham died, and he gave them the same names his father had given them.
Isaac’s servants dug in the valley and discovered a well of fresh water there. But the herders of Gerar quarreled with those of Isaac and said, “The water is ours!” So he named the well Esek, because they disputed with him. Then they dug another well, but they quarreled over that one also; so he named it Sitnah. He moved on from there and dug another well, and no one quarreled over it. He named it Rehoboth, saying, “Now the Lord has given us room and we will flourish in the land.”
Why didn’t Isaac simply take the whole land by force since he was already “too powerful for them?”
He was a Man of Peace.
God watches how we treat those who are weaker than us. He watches how we treat success. He watches how we treat our neighbours. He watches whether we pursue after peace or dominance.
So, when a brother walks away from the Father, wait for his return and get food ready. He is going to need it. You are going to have it.
You MUST restore your fallen brother.
This is how we fulfil the law of Christ (to love one another) – We share each other’s burden.
Galatians 6:1, 2 Dear brothers and sisters, if another believer is overcome by some sin, you who are godly should gently and humbly help that person back onto the right path. And be careful not to fall into the same temptation yourself. Share each other’s burdens, and in this way obey the law of Christ.
2 things to watch out when we do this
1. We should not fall into the same temptation ourselves.
The reason someone falls into sin is wrong mindset (wrong understanding of Scripture) or wrong desires. Something causes them to think it is beneficial or right to do the wrong thing. They are walking on slippery ground. When we walk with them to restore them, we must remember our own vulnerability. We cannot fall into the same confusion they are in.
Psalm 73:18 Then I went into your sanctuary, O God, and I finally understood the destiny of the wicked. Truly, you put them on a slippery path and send them sliding over the cliff to destruction.
2. Pride over our own “righteousness”
Galatians 6:3-5 If you think you are too important to help someone, you are only fooling yourself. You are not that important. Pay careful attention to your own work, for then you will get the satisfaction of a job well done, and you won’t need to compare yourself to anyone else. For we are each responsible for our own conduct.
We are who we are by the grace of God. We are not that important to walk away from someone else’ struggles. When we forgive and restore a brother, we are only doing what we are supposed to do as servants of Christ.
Lord Jesus’ mind was
1. Set on the Father’s will (God is always looking to restore or reignite)
2. Willingly laid down His life as a sacrifice (He did what was needed to restore man to God)
3. Never doubted the Father’s goodness
4. Never moved until the Father said
5. Unshakeable, unbreakable, unintimidated
How to harness your thoughts so you love your prodigal brother unconditionally?
How to think like Jesus in this situation?
You must stop thinking like the elder brother of the prodigal son.
Luke 15:27-32 Your brother has come,’ he replied, ‘and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.’
“The older brother became angry and refused 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 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.’ ”
1. Holy Spirit will not remind you of what they did or what they ran after
2. He will not remind you of your “boring all work no play” life
3. He won’t make you think of all the punishments and punitive actions you must take on the one who returned empty
4. He won’t make you feel superior because you were “righteous”
5. He won’t remind you of your “own sufferings” and cause you to take your eyes off the Father’s broken heart.
From the day your brother left Your Father’s Presence your loving Father had been mourning. He had nothing to celebrate for!
The day your prodigal brother comes back he is covered in pig slime, malnourished, dressed in filthy rags, ill-treated by the people who he thought were friends.
What do you do?
You run to him, give him your shirt, put on the ring of protection, signalling no one is to accuse / stone him to death, ask for the richest food to be brought for him….
You forgive him 70 times 7.
What does that mean?
We refuse to offer the devil a foothold. He has to give up trying at some point!
Ephesians 4:26, 27 And “don’t sin by letting anger control you.” Don’t let the sun go down while you are still angry, for anger gives a foothold to the devil.
We refuse to leave the Presence of God. We cannot enter His Presence with anger in our hearts!
Matthew 5:23, 24 So if you are presenting a sacrifice at the altar in the Temple and you suddenly remember that someone has something against you, leave your sacrifice there at the altar. Go and be reconciled to that person. Then come and offer your sacrifice to God.
Where does the supply for all this come from?
From the Father!
The prodigal son’s Father did not ask the elder son to hunt for new game and give to the younger one. He simply asked him to share from the bounty he had in his Father’s house.
The reason we struggle to forgive is most often what things seem like than the real thing. It seems to us they were enjoying themselves and disregarding us. The truth is we don’t know what enticed them and blinded them.
We must ask God to show things about our brother that we don’t see, so we can love them the way He does.
In all situations, seek God. Seek to know who He wants you to be and that’s how you become your brother’s keeper.
Become deaf to the accuser of the brethren so you can hear the pulsating beat of the Father’s heart calling each one of His lost children – Come back. Come back. Come back.
Rehoboth 