Elder Brother's Distorted View

Cumberland Falls - 11:45 a.m.

Chip Imgram explains the elder brother's mentality in the telling of the prodigal son and how the elder brother has a distorted view of God's heart:

• Too busy earning Father's favor to realize he already had it
• So absorbed with performance he could never enjoy life
• Like the elder brother many of us spend all our energy and time trying to prove ourselves to God, parents, bosses, someone from our past, spouse, anyone who made us feel like we'll never amount to anything
• We become driven to achieve and accomplish
• Being driven to perform has a subtle, self-righteous arrogance in it
• We think that being godly means always giving up our desires and plans to do what others want
• The above falsehoods are lies from Satan!
• Truth--I must be willing to give up my plans in submission to God's direction in serving and loving others
• Truth--The plans and dreams I have are important as well
• Truth--Many are God-given
• Part of loving others is allowing them to love me, even giving them an opportunity to make sacrifices for me, as I make sacrifices for them, if God so leads.

Lie--"I always need to submit my will to everyone else's." The result is a never-ending to-do-list. When I don't experience joy, I don't have the strength of my Father and I end up in a performance trap that's steeped in self-effort and absolutely no fun." (Chip Ingram) Oh, how I fall into this trap and live there so easily. Experience it regularly. Even in my relationship with you Father. Oh please have mercy on me.

An example of a consequence of the elder-brother performance mentality: Faithful, consistent Christian-often church leader suddenly separates from their spouse. Their actions are so out of character: red sports car, takes up with a person half their age. It is almost guaranteed this person has lived with elder-brother mentality for years and was never able to enjoy life. The consistent suppression of genuine, God-ordained pleasure is frustrating and depressing. Those who live with it long enough eventually explode, sometimes in very ungodly ways. This is an example of what a distorted view of God can lead to.

• Truth-God's gifts are always available to his children, i.e. elder brother.
  

He welcomes and implores our enjoyment of them!