Sunday School at 9 am | worship at 10 am

Is Sin Basically Breaking the Rules of God or Breaking the Heart of God?

In the parable of the Prodigal Son, Jesus speaks to the relationship problems we have with God. For some of us, it is obvious that we are deeply alienated from God. But for others, our estrangement from God is much more subtle.  It’s not only the “younger brother” types who are alienated from God; “elder brother” types are too.

The parable of the Prodigal Son is a dramatic story.  It’s a moving story.   The father in the story is brokenhearted.  His younger son has demanded his share of the estate.  Now!  He can’t wait for his father to die.  Both brothers think of sin as basically "breaking the rules”; they just differ in what the rules are! But the governing theme in this parable is that sin is running from God — avoiding Him, getting away from Him, and saying to Him, "I don't need you!" This is a much more profound concept of a relational problem than "breaking rules."

The elder brother is a man who knows that the only way to avoid Jesus as Savior is to avoid sin. If you believe yourself to be a good person, you may look to Jesus as your example, or as your helper, but never as your savior.  If you are a good person, then Jesus owes it to you to listen to your prayers, to protect you, and to reward you for good behavior. This is clearly the attitude of the elder brother. Why is he so angry with the father? He feels he has the right to tell the father what he should do with his robes, rings, and calves. It shows that he is just as resentful of the father's control of his goods as the younger brother was.

The younger brother went away to get out from under the father's control of his wealth, but the older brother stayed home and "never disobeyed" as his way to do the same thing. At heart they were absolutely the same. Both were trying to escape the authority of the father, both resented his control and rebelled.  One did it by breaking all the father's rules, and the other did it by keeping them.

Now we see why "running from God" is a deeper definition of sin than "breaking the rules of God," because you can run from God either by breaking his rules or by keeping them. The difference between a religious person and a true Christian is that the religious person obeys God to get control over God, and to get things from God.  But the Christian obeys just to get God. Religious persons obey to get leverage over God, to control him, to put him in a position where they think He owes them. So, despite their moral and religious preciseness, they are actually attempting to be their own saviors. Christians who know they are saved only by grace know they can never control God.  They obey Him out of a desire to love and please Him.  They want to draw closer to the one who saved them, not keep Him at a “safe distance.”