Sense of Entitlement

Luke 15:1-7
The Pharisees have noticed that Jesus continually gathers with the unrighteous and sinners, while seemingly neglecting the religious, the "righteous".  This causes anger and grumbling among them against Jesus (vs. 2).  He tells them that it is not the righteous continually growing and maturing that causes rejoicing in heaven, but the unrighteous turning, the sinners repenting that causes true rejoicing (vs. 7, 10).  He further illustrates this point by telling the well-known parable of the Prodigal Son.  It is the second son we focus on, the one who remained loyal to his father, never straying, the one who most resembles us.  When the straying son returns and repents from his fleshly, sinful ways there is celebrating and rejoicing (vs. 21-24).  When the "good" son hears of this he grows jealous and angry (vs. 27-28).  He feels as though his loyalty and righteousness has earned him some favor with the father and well-deserved rewards (vs. 29).  He feels a sense of entitlement for his "good behavior", that he is owed attention and praise from the father, a portion of the father's wealth.  The father reminds him that he is privy to all the father has, and is freely granted access anytime he so chooses (vs. 31), but it is in the recovering of a life that celebration and rejoicing is due, not in the abiding.  This sense of entitlement that we so often have, that this son had, is warned against by Jesus.  It is Jesus that has changed us and has kept us, not our own strength and capability.  We have played no part in it, and therefore should not expect to receive any more than is due a lowly servant (Luke 17:7-10).  We think our love for him, our loyalty to him, our worship of him, and our service to him earns us some kind of merit, a portion of the proceeds and his full attention, and this is just not the case.  This is exactly what the Pharisees thought and what we think today.  We deserve this and we deserve that, after all, we are God's people.  Is this not why we spend our resources on ourselves and our churches, under the guise of equipping the saints?  Equipping the saints is the work of God, not our money.  Even our tithes have become gifts to ourselves, not God.  Is this not why 85% of tithes remain within the local church they are given to; half of it dedicated to staff to "feed" us the way we prefer to be fed, to lead us in worship according to the style we enjoy most and purchasing class material that keeps us entertained?  We spend our money on building ourselves (i.e. the "church") up, on growing and maturing ourselves in the faith, on our own personal spiritual learning and development, while a lost world is dying without Christ.  Our priority is our own spiritual growth, in direct disobedience to Paul's exhortation to consider others, the lost, as a higher priority (Philippians 2:3-4), the same direction that Jesus gives us in this parable of the Prodigal Son, and the Dishonest Manager (Luke 16:1-13).  He tells us to use our "unrighteous" wealth (i.e. earthly treasure) to gain those souls who are lost (16:9).  If we are not spending our resources to seek and save the lost in this world, instead focusing on ourselves and our own spiritual needs we will never be entrusted with true eternal riches (16:10-12).  And, in actuality, if we continually spend God's money on God's people we have missed the entire message of the gospel and the call of Jesus,and in turn are serving money, not God (16:13), no matter the outward appearance.  Jesus came to save the lost and the sick, not focus on the needs of the healthy and righteous (Mark 2:17; Luke 4:17-19).  Of course, we are to grow and mature in our faith, but not at the expense of saving the lost.  God will finish what he started in us, and will carry us on to maturity in our faith as we seek the kingdom first, not seek our own growth first.  Let him do the work he has promised to do in us, as we carry on the work he has given us to do in the Great Commission.  With our resources continually going to our own needs and "in-house" church focus, while giving leftovers to mission (whether local or foreign), how can we ever claim the heart of Jesus?  This never was and never is his heart or intention.  Jesus has given us a clear choice to make: either spend and be spent for the lost, or spend and be spent on to the detriment of your own soul.