Sometimes a preacher has thoughts that just don’t make it into the sermon. Sometimes they just didn’t fit, or sometimes, when you try to stray from your manuscript (which I prefer), you just forget them. It wasn’t so much a thought as it was an incident, or rather two incidents, which I think would have helped people apply the sermon.

Unfortunately my computer froze up and the sermon on The Parable of the Lost Sons, (I’ll never call it the Parable of the Prodigal Son again) “Carry on my wayward son” did not get recorded. Sorry Kansas, I tried my best! Regardless, here’s something I think could have helped, or perhaps could help us all, in considering the ways in which Christians can easily fall into the way of the older brother.

The older brother was just as wayward as the younger brother. He simply wanted his Father’s stuff, but not his father. All these years I’ve slaved for you and you never even threw me a stinking goat! That’s what he says. The younger son was just as blunt and demanded his inheritance up front. These two boys simply wanted their Father’s stuff, but neither wanted his father. They were interested not in a relationship with their Father, but a connection to his stuff, toys, property, blessings, etc…

In the period of three days, I had two sons (ironically both younger sons) tell me “I’d much rather have my Father with me, than his money. One referred to inheritance and how he would much rather have his father alive. The other didn’t want his father to continue working. He’d be happy just to have the relationship and time spent, even if it meant he would potentially inherit far less money at some point in the future. These two boys simply wanted their father, in and of himself. They wanted their father simply because he was their father. That was blessing enough.

What does it look like for us to be like the older brother? To love and want the Father’s stuff more than the Father? Here are a few thoughts, as I try to wrestle through what that might look like.

Can we value blessing over relationship? Yes. It is not bad to want the blessings of our Father, these blessings can be valued over relationship. Think about the blessing of a church family. A church family can provide meals when needed, a couch moved, a text or phone call when struggling, prayers that you can feel throughout the day, words that can challenge and encourage. Just to name a few. But a church can also let you down. A church will let you down. A church comprises bozos like you and I, so what did you expect? But it’s when the church lets you down, that you will know if you loved the Father, or you simply loved his “stuff.” If I become angry with those in the church, or bail on the church because she disappointed me (and sometimes we do need to be disappointed if our expectations are sinful or far-fetched), then I probably just loved the Father for his stuff. I wasn’t loving God, I would have simply been enjoying his benefits, not his person. But if I value my relationship with the Father, that when he withholds a blessing or two for a season, I’m OK. I still have my Father. If I still have my Father, then I can love the church in spite of its warts. How angry we get at others, when they don’t meet our expectations, reveals where our true love lies.

I hate to suffer. I really do. But when the Lord dispossesses us of something, or plan, even if that something or plan is good, He is doing it out of love. He wants us to love Him for who He is and what He has done in Christ. But if I’m livid, and angry, and think “well what’s the point of trying to honor Him when this is how I’m treated,” then I’ve simply wanted the Father’s stuff.

These are just a few ways I can think of how we can love the Father’s stuff, but not the father. Feel free to share any of your own.

In my sermon on Sunday, “I still haven’t found what I’m looking for” we considered the difficulty of living in the “Now but not yet” of Jesus’ Kingdom. In other words, the Kingdom has begun, but has not yet been completed. Jesus said as much to John the Baptist who was in prison at the time. John was expecting Jesus to release the captives, because well, in Jesus’ own words, he said he would (Luke 4). He said he was the man to get the job done, the man promised in Isaiah 61. Yet John still languished in prison. So John, like you and I, and any thinking person would have done, sent messengers to Jesus to ask him “What gives cuz? (Matthew 11)”

Jesus responds by saying, “You go tell cousin John, that I’ve healed people, given sight to the blind, cured lepers, preached good news to the poor…” Notice he left the part out about “releasing the captives” (Isaiah 61). He did enough that John could trust him with the rest.

In one of my first seminary classed called Introduction to Theological Studies, Richard Pratt Jr, explained this verse with such clarity that I remember it like it was yesterday. Jesus has given us a framework to help make a little more sense of the Christian life. We experience joy and at the same time we still experience frustration. We see in part, not in full now (I Corinthians 12). We have joy, but its not perfect joy this side of heaven. We can experience peace, but its not perfect peace (which is good news for someone with anxiety issues-I’m not as weird as I think). There have been times when I’ve experienced anxiety so great I was incapable of doing anything for a week. And there have been times when I lost my job, didn’t know where I would be heading, or what to do with my house, how I would support wife and child, and yet was at rest. Imperfect peace is still real peace; peace when my personality shouldn’t have allowed it.

We want more than we have now, and we should. Like a child pining for her mother to hold her, not just be in the same room with her, the presence of Jesus can make us cry. Not because he doesn’t love us, but because He does. We want more than this world has to offer, and I think that is why the Apostle Paul is not afraid to say “To live is Christ and to die is gain.” Dying is gain, not because it is absence of suffering (a la Brittany Maynard), but the presence of blessing. The very presence of Jesus.

Someone asked me after the sermon,”If we will never be fully satisfied this side of heaven, then how do we keep some sort of fire going?” Here are some ways to enjoy God this side of Heaven.

1.) Preached Word: I know some folks have hard times paying attention to sermons, but its worth it to try. I asked someone about her tears during one of my sermons, and she said, “I could sense God telling me how much He loved me.” That’s not Godspeak, that God speaking through His Word. Don’t neglect putting yourself under His preached Word.

2.) Daily Devotions: God speaks to us through His Word as we read it too. Don’t wait to hear God speak to you once a week.

3.) Prayer: I’m looking forward to Tim Keller’s new book on prayer. So I could have more here later, but there is great delight to be found in reading and reflecting through a Psalm. I lived on Psalm 91 for a season of my life. My prayer time was more enjoyable than fishing.

4.) Fellowship: Sometimes we can feel God’s presence with us when we are present with God’s people: His Church. I don’t know how many times my faith gets weak, doubting, faltering, and then all of a sudden I’m picked by the words of another in a community group. I know I’m not alone. But even one-on-one times with a friend, mentor, disciple, are an absolute necessity. Those who crafted the Westminster Confession of Faith (which is good) missed big on not including fellowship as an “official” means of growing in grace. It is.

5.) Baptism/Communion: I know its not the same as having a meal in Jesus physical presence, but its the next best thing we have while on Earth. Baptism points us to Jesus’ promise to save those who put their faith in Him. We forget, so it is always good to “see.”

6.) Music. Sometimes a truth communicated through song. Maybe a hymn, contemporary song on radio, or even a U2 song. Some of them really make me think about God’s nearness, when I’m scared, disillusioned, or just plain dry. Even Pink Floyd songs, some of which have such depth, leave me with an excited longing for Jesus to return.

Here are just some ways to keep the fire going this side of heaven so that we can experience imperfect but nevertheless life-changing  joy and peace.