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April 13, 2008AM
Luke 15:18-32
The Autopsy of a Disciple
The word autopsy conjures up all kinds of images.
You see the surface being ripped open to show the inside condition.
Autopsies are conducted to get at truth.
Autopsy is a Greek word Autopsia which comes from two words.
Auto is the first word which in English means self.
It is familiar to us.
Auto-mobile means self moving.
Rarely do you see a car being pushed these days.
If you do you know something is either wrong with the car or something is
wrong with the person pushing.
It is like the lumber jack on his first day on the job.
The foreman took out a brand new chain saw and handed it to him.
The new worker was instructed to cut trees with a 2 foot diameter.
Mid morning the lumber jacks came in for their break.
The new fella was breathing heavier than the others.
He reported he had cut down two trees as did everyone else.
At lunch time he came in huffing and puffing.
Between gasps for air he reported two more trees had been cut.
When afternoon break arrived he barely made it back to camp.
He was sweating profusely, barely carrying his chain saw.
He had cut two more trees but was completely exhausted.
He looked at the other lumber jacks.
They didn’t seem tired and weren’t all sweaty.
He couldn’t understand why he was so tired.
He said to the foreman “Something must be wrong with my saw.”
The foreman looked over the brand new saw.
It did have some unusual markings on it.
When he pulled the cord the motor growled into life.
The new lumber jack jumped to his feet.
A look of terror gripped his face.
Pointing at the saw, he screamed “what’s that noise?”
Auto means “self”.
The other word in autopsy is opsia.
Opsia means sight or seeing.
So autopsy literally means self seeing or seen for oneself.
It is to see what is out of sight.
To see what is below the surface.
I brought a piece of fire wood with me this morning.
It has had an autopsy done on it.
It has been cut open.
The autopsy exposes what is below the surface or the inside condition.
This one looked good but inside it was hollow and dead.
If a spiritual autopsy was done on you what would be seen?
The surface can look good while inside is lifeless and empty.
We can go through the motions and inside be dead.
A hollowed out tree breaks and snaps under pressure.
What happens to your witness under pressure?
Jesus conducted an autopsy on who we would consider to be a faithful disciple.
He did it with a parable about a father and his two sons.
Both sons had an autopsy performed on them.
But we need to look at the autopsy done on the older son.
What did the older son look like?
He looked faithful, responsible, industrious.
He didn’t squander his inheritance.
He stayed on the farm and helped his dad.
His inheritance was twice as much as his younger brother’s.
And he was going to look after it.
He was going to protect what was his.
We admire all those qualities don’t we?
Here is the making of a great disciple.
No nonsense, hardworking, dependable.
That’s what we want to look like.
But Jesus’ autopsy shows more than we want to acknowledge.
As Jesus reveals the heart some things become obvious.
There is pride, judgmentalism, and self-sufficiency.
There is no joy in his work but only duty.
There was no grace only an overpowering sense of justice.
When his younger brother returns home this disciple is disgusted.
He is sickened by the thought of his brother’s return.
He is indignant and his indignation turns to rage when he hears a party.
Why celebrate the return of this irresponsible loser?
This squanderer deserved nothing.
He refused to honour a person like that with his presence.
He wouldn’t lower his impeccable standards.
Listen to his anger as he responds to his father in verses 29 and 30.
“Lo, I’ve been with you always and what has it gotten me?”
Ah, the autopsy reveals the heart.
He has only been with the father for himself.
He didn’t care about his father’s business, just his own.
The carefully polished surface is peeled away.
And now things don’t look so pretty.
This hard working disciple had completely missed his father’s heart.
Have you missed God’s heart?
Are you here out of love for God and others?
Or are you here because you want to protect your turf and stake in the kingdom?
At the core both brothers were the same.
They were different on the surface but their hearts were no where near home.
Regardless of what you look like today, where is your heart in relation to God?
We are all part of this parable.
We all must ask, “What are my attitudes toward those who have failed?
“Do I inwardly look down on them with disdain?
“Do I judge them and even project rumors on to them?
“What is my attitude toward those who are lost?
“Am I too busy tending the farm to tend to their plight?
“What is my attitude towards those whose behaviour is self destructive?
“Do I hope that someday they will reap what they have sown?”
What would have happened if the elder brother reached the returning brother first?
What if the father’s loving embrace had not been first?
Living in a pigsty would be better than the rejection of his brother.
How many broken people never make it to the Father’s heart because of elder
brothers in the church?
How often is God’s love preceded by a disciple’s disdain?
Christian fellowship can so easily be a house of judgment rather than grace.
Has anyone gone back to the far off country because they met you first?
If you drive someone back to the far off country it is because your heart is
already there.
Jesus’ autopsy reveals the location of your heart.
“Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours.”
That’s what the outward appearance shows.
But Jesus has a way of showing where the heart is.
Notice the progression in the father’s expression about the younger son.
In verse 24 he says, “My son was dead, and is alive.”
In verse 32 he says, “Your brother was dead, and is alive.”
“My son” – “all that is mine is yours” – “your brother”.
The brother should have been as full of grace as his father.
After all those years their welcome should have been the same - joy.
But the autopsy showed the dead spirit of the elder son.
What are you like on the inside?
Integrity is being the same all the way through.
Hypocrisy is being different on the outside from the inside.
Hypocrisy is literally wearing a mask of disguise.
The elder brother, as the autopsy revealed, was well disguised.
God cuts to the heart of authentic Christian character.
“Authentic Christian character . . . is never shaped by a simplistic legalism that says, ‘Do this and you will get that result.’ We human beings can never make ourselves by nature what God does by grace. Our only hope is found in the grace and Spirit of God to form and transform our lives into the divine image.” (Steve Green, Chair of Biblical and Theological Studies at Southern Nazarene University, Holiness Today September/October 2007, “Rediscovering Our Christian Selves”).
God stands looking at you with arms stretched wide open regardless which brother.
There are pieces of both sons in all of us.
He wants you to receive His forgiveness and share His joy.
I’m going to sit on the front pew when the service ends.
What have you seen through Jesus’ autopsy?
What has been revealed about your heart today?
If what you have seen disturbs you come and meet with me.
We can go to the Father together.
Take a step of faith that brings you home.
Or take a step of faith that helps you love more deeply and purely.
Religious elder brothers can as easily miss the Father’s joy as the son
lost in the far country.
Don’t be either of them!