Lessons from the Prodigal Son’s Brother and Jonah (Luke 15.31-32 and Jonah 4)

We can learn wonderful lessons from the prodigal's son's brother and Jonah. Reading Jonah 4 is like reading Luke 15:25-31. If God is going to put two similar accounts in the Bible – one in the Old Testament and one in the New Testament – it seems He’s trying to drive home the points they make. https://youtu.be/ZkIsRFUXgGA We can learn wonderful lessons from the prodigal's son's brother and Jonah. Reading Jonah 4 is like reading Luke 15:25-31. Table of contentsFamily Worship Guide for Lessons from the Prodigal Son's BrotherSermon Notes for Lessons from the Prodigal Son's BrotherLesson One: Jonah contains the parable of the prodigal son.Lesson Two: When God blesses others it doesn’t mean less for us.Lesson Three: Do we recognize our spiritual blessings?Lesson Four: The Prodigal Son's Brother and Jonah teach us (Part One) to rejoice over salvation.Lesson Four: The Prodigal Son's Brother and Jonah teach us (Part Two) God wants to forgive. Family Worship Guide for Lessons from the Prodigal Son's Brother Directions: Read the following passages and answer the questions below: Day 1: Jonah 4—How is the parable of the prodigal son revealed in Jonah 4? How do you see the father, youngest son, and oldest son in Jonah 4? What are the similarities between the accounts? Day 2: Luke 15:31 and Ephesians 1:3-11—Why do you think the older brother wasn’t aware of everything he had available to him? What spiritual blessings are available to us? What spiritual blessings might we neglect or fail to appreciate are available to us? Day 3: Luke 15:31-32, Jonah 4:11, 2 Peter 3:9, Romans 5:20—Why do you think God has two similar accounts, one in the Old Testament and one in the New Testament? How do these accounts reveal that we should rejoice over salvation? How do they reveal that God desires to forgive? Sermon Notes for Lessons from the Prodigal Son's Brother On Sunday mornings we’re working our way through Luke’s gospel verse by verse and we find ourselves at Luke 15:31. This will be our last sermon on the parable of the prodigal son. The parable has greatly encouraged me, and I hope it has you as well. The title of this morning’s sermon is, “Lessons from the Prodigal Son's Brother and Jonah.” First, we are going to look at some verses in Jonah and I will begin with a lesson to set us up… Lesson One: Jonah contains the parable of the prodigal son. I have been thinking about the ways Jonah resembles the older brother, but I wanted to wait until we got toward the end of the parable so you would have the familiarity to see the similarities. Reading Jonah 4 is like reading Luke 15:25-31. Jonah is like the Old Testament older brother. I hope this will become clear as we read the verses, and allow us to examine our hearts and see if we’re at all like Jonah or older brother. Go ahead and start at Jonah 3:10 for context… Jonah 3:10 When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil way, God relented of the disaster that he had said he would do to them, and he did not do it. Now if you didn’t already know this account, what would you expect the next verse to say about Jonah? Then Jonah rejoiced greatly over the Ninevites’ forgiveness. He was very thankful and blessed that God was so gracious and merciful. He called together his friends and neighbors and said, “Rejoice with me, for the Ninevites who were lost have been found. They were dead and are now alive.” And he began to celebrate. Instead, he looks just like the older brother… Jonah 4:1 But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was angry. Here’s the typology: The Ninevites look like the younger brother. They live wickedly, but they repent and are immediately forgiven. Jonah looks like the older brother. He’s upset about the Ninevites’ forgiveness like the older brother was upset about his younger brother’s forgiveness. And God looks like the father. He forgave the Ninevites as quickly and graciously as the father forgave the youngest son. And why does God in Jonah 4 look like the Father in the Parable of the Prodigal Son? Because it’s the same Father! If you write in your Bible, you can circle this verse, draw a line, and write Luke 15:28, which says… Luke 15:28 [the older brother] was angry and refused to go in. His father came out and entreated him, The words anger or angry occur six times in Jonah 4. It shows just how angry he was, which is a stark contrast to the joy he should have felt. The word anger occurs again in verse two while Jonah criticizes God for being slow to anger… Jonah 4:2 And he prayed to the Lord and said, “O Lord, is not this what I said when I was yet in my country? That is why I made haste to flee to Tarshish; for I knew that YOU ARE A GRACIOUS GOD and merciful, SLOW TO ANGER and abounding in steadfast love, and relenting from disaster. 3 Therefore now, O Lord, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live.” If you remember our last sermon it was titled, “When God’s Grace to Others Bothers Us.” Jonah would have worked as another example in that sermon. Notice he said , “You are a gracious God,” but he wasn’t happy about it. He wasn’t praising God’s character. He was angry at God’s grace, because it was being shown to others. The word angry occurs again in verse four… Jonah 4:4 And the Lord said, “Do you do well to be ANGRY?” 5 Jonah went out of the city and sat to the east of the city and made a booth for himself there. He sat under it in the shade, till he should see what would become of the city. Jonah’s actions here also make him look like the older brother. Luke 15:28 said the older brother refused to go in to the party to celebrate his brother’s forgiveness, and Jonah refused to go into the city to celebrate the Ninevites’ forgiveness. Jonah 4:6 Now the Lord God appointed a plant and made it come up over Jonah, that it might be a shade over his head, to save him from his discomfort. So Jonah was exceedingly glad because of the plant. Now there’s a transition from Jonah looking like the older brother to God looking like the father. Luke 15:28 says [the father] came out and entreated [the older brother]: Just like the father could have rebuked the older brother for his ugly attitude, God could have rebuked Jonah for his ugly attitude. Instead, just like the father came outside the celebration to minister to his oldest son, God came outside the city to minister to Jonah. And the way the Father graciously deals with the older son parallels the way God graciously deals with Jonah in the following verses… Jonah 4:7 But when dawn came up the next day, God appointed a worm that attacked the plant, so that it withered. 8 When the sun rose, God appointed a scorching east wind, and the sun beat down on the head of Jonah so that he was faint. And he asked that he might die and said, “It is better for me to die than to live.” For the second time Jonah says that he would like to die. Then the word angry occurs three times in verse nine… Jonah 4:9 But God said to Jonah, “Do you do well to be angry for the plant?” And he said, “Yes, I do well to be angry, angry enough to die.” 10 And the Lord said, “You pity the plant, for which you did not labor, nor did you make it grow, which came into being in a night and perished in a night. 11 And should not I pity Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know their right hand from their left, and also much cattle?” And we see another parallel as we come to the end of this account… Notice the word pity occurs twice. In verse 10 God points out that Jonah had pity on the plant, and in verse 11 says that He should pity the city of Nineveh even more because of the 120,000 people who would have been judged. The Hebrew word for pity is ḥûs(pronounced hoos) and it means, “have compassion or look upon with compassion.” This is why many Bibles, such as the NASB and Amplified translate this as compassion instead of pity. If you write in your Bible in verse 11 you can circle the words I pity Nineveh and write Luke 15:20 which says… Luke 15:20 While he was still a long way off, his father saw him and FELT COMPASSION, and ran and embraced him and kissed him. God looks like the father here, because the compassion He felt toward the repentant Ninevites parallels the compassion the father felt toward his repentant son. I wanted to look at these verses in Jonah because they reinforce the teaching on the older brother. If God is going to put two similar accounts in the Bible – one in the Old Testament and one in the New Testament – it seems to me He’s trying to drive home the points they make. And with that, go ahead and turn to Luke 15, so we can finish this wonderful parable. Afte Let me remind you that even though we focus on the younger brother when we read this parable, Jesus taught it in response to the religious leaders’ criticism that He receives sinners and eats with them. Because of that, it wouldn’t be too much to say the parable is as much, or maybe even more so, about the older brother, who represents them. Luke 15:31 And he said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. We see continued graciousness from the father despite his son’s continued rudeness: The father was kind in verse 27 The son was rude in verses 28-30. We might expect the father to give his older son the rebuke he deserved, but he continued to be gracious toward him. Even though the son wouldn’t address his father with any respectful title, such as father or Lord – instead he simply said, “Look.” – the father tenderly addresses him as, “Son.” And it is kinder than it looks because the Greek word for son is yhios (pronounced: wee-oss). It is the word used throughout the parable for son. Eight times to be exact… Luke 15:11 And he said,