Famous For God

In Timothy Keller’s book, The Prodigal God, he gives insight to one of the most familiar parables found in the Bible. The story is about two sons: the younger who wasted his inheritance through debauchery and the elder who hated his father because he showed grace to his brother Luke 15:11-32. Most of what Keller discusses in the book is the elder brother who Jesus draws a parallel to the religious Pharisees which criticized the carpenter from Nazareth for his association with sinners (tax collectors, sick people, even prostitutes).

The elder son in this story is the “faithful” one. He never left home, worked diligently, and certainly didn’t waste his life foolishly on wine, women and song, as did his younger brother. He is incensed that his father would not only receive back into the home this prodigal sibling but that he would do so lavishly with great fanfare and rejoicing. Keller goes to the heart of the matter by stating that the eldest son did not stay nor serve his father out of love but because of duty and self-interest. Like the righteous religious crowd listening to the parable, the Pharisees expected to gain heaven because of their following the rules, of the Mosaic Law. Their open display of piety (fasting, praying on the street corner), they believed entitled them greater standing before God than the sinners they disdained.

Living a righteous life is certainly not wrong and there is no suggestion that the father was more pleased with the prodigal than the eldest son. But the question is the motivation for one’s devotion to God? Keller then recounts the scene in the movie Amadeus where Salieri, an a Italian composer, prays to God for His blessing on his musical career.

“Lord, make me a great composer! Let me celebrate your glory through music – and be celebrated myself! Make me famous through the world, dear God! Make me immortal! After I die let people speak my name forever with love for what I wrote! In return I vow I will give you my chastity, my industry, my deepest humility, every hour of my life. And I will help my fellow man all I can. Amen and amen!”

Have you ever prayed to be famous for His glory? I may not have prayed exactly for that, but in Christian babble I am sure that I said something like, “Lord bless my work. Use me beyond what even I can imagine for your sake.” When the book “The Prayer of Jabez” came out many purchased the book hoping that God would enlarge their tents, for the glory of God. In return for His favor we tell Him that we will devote all to make Him proud that He made us renown.

The story of the two sons doesn’t really come to a conclusion, just implied principles. One is that the father shows amazing grace to the prodigal. Living a reckless life, though forgiven, has consequences. This son spent his inheritance and after his dad’s death probably continued to work for wages from his eldest brother. The second principle is whatever one does for God is to be done because we want to serve Him, not a means of gaining either fame or favor. Lastly, if one is in the household of God, they do not have to earn the inheritance, it is already ours…all of it.