Barbecue, Brunswick Stew and the Prodigal Son

If you ask my daughter what’s the best thing to get at Armstrong’s Barbecue in Summerville, she would probably say it is the Brunswick stew. I think the best thing on the menu is the beef barbecue sandwich, closely followed by the cheeseburger. The food is good and the price is right. They smoke the meat all night after putting a rub and secret sauce on it, then it is sliced up and served on a toasted bun. Most restaurants chip it and then mix in the sauce. It is much less messy when it is sliced, and the sauce they use is vinegar based with peppercorns. I like my cheeseburgers with just mustard, ketchup and mayo. My wife also likes the barbecue, but she gets her cheeseburger loaded. I like mine with chips and a sweet tea, my wife and daughter get fries and diet coke. We all love Armstrong’s, we love it for different reasons and we get something different when we go there.

So what does barbecue and Brunswick stew have to do with the prodigal son? It may be a weak analogy, but the principle fits where I am going with this. We all come to God with different experiences and carrying our own unique baggage. I think the parable of the prodigal son speaks to this. The parable is found in Luke 15:11-32. If you know anything about the Bible, you know the parable of the prodigal.

11Jesus continued: "There was a man who had two sons. 12The younger one said to his father, 'Father, give me my share of the estate.' So he divided his property between them.


13"Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. 14After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. 15So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. 16He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything.


17"When he came to his senses, he said, 'How many of my father's hired men have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! 18I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. 19I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired men.' 20So he got up and went to his father. "But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.


21"The son said to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.[a]'


22"But the father said to his servants, 'Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. 23Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let's have a feast and celebrate. 24For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.' So they began to celebrate.


25"Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. 26So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on. 27'Your brother has come,' he replied, 'and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.'


28"The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him. 29But he answered his father, 'Look! All these years I've been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. 30But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!'


31" 'My son,' the father said, 'you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. 32But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.' "

Most of the time when we hear or read this passage, we focus on the son who took the money and ran. We think about how he blew it, going out and choosing to live the wild life. We see people doing that all around us, living in the moment and ignoring the moral or ethical consequences of their actions. Then the parable tells us that he came to his senses and got right with his father. If we stop there we miss a very valuable lesson. I want to focus on the older brother; I think the he represents a lot of what is wrong with the church universal today. Too many times we want to say that people have to share our experiences or believe exactly like we do to be worthy of God’s grace. The truth is, each one of us has our own story. We come from different backgrounds and we have had different life experineces. God works differently in each of our lives, to speak to our unique needs and He approaches us in the way that will work for each of us individually. Yet some people have an attitude that everyone has to have the exact same experience and ideas, or else they are somehow different or less worthy. Here is a dose of reality: we are all unworthy!

Jesus spoke about this type of attitude in Luke 9:46-50.

46An argument started among the disciples as to which of them would be the greatest. 47Jesus, knowing their thoughts, took a little child and had him stand beside him. 48Then he said to them, "Whoever welcomes this little child in my name welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me. For he who is least among you all—he is the greatest."


49"Master," said John, "we saw a man driving out demons in your name and we tried to stop him, because he is not one of us."


50"Do not stop him," Jesus said, "for whoever is not against you is for you."

First, the disciples were arguing about who was the most worthy. Translate that today to: “I am a better Christian than you! God loves me more because I am more holy!” Then they say, “Jesus, we saw this dude who was preaching in your name. He wasn’t one of us, so we told him to quit. Who does he think he is? He is not with us, he can’t preach in your name, that’s our job! I think we should sue!!!” Have you ever encountered that type of attitude?

Why do we feel challenged or threatened by people who have different backgrounds, ideas or experiences than we have? I think it is basically due to spiritual immaturity and insecurity. For the most part, many Christians today have a faith that is shallow. We accept Christ as our Savior, but we refuse to let Him be LORD of our life. We decide what we believe about certain issues and then we set our faith on “cruise control.” When someone expresses a belief or idea that challenges us or calls us to strengthen our relationship, we feel threatened and lash out. Nobody likes bumps in the road when you’re on “cruise control!”

Cruise control doesn’t work if you really want to have a relationship with God. I think that is one of the most wonderful aspects of the Christian faith, it is based upon a relationship with Jesus Christ. Like any relationship, you have to work at it and invest in it. If I were to take the attitude that I didn’t need to talk to my wife or listen to her anymore since we are already married, my relationship with her would suffer. You can’t stop working at a marriage, it needs constant attention if the relationship is going to deepen and survive the test of time. Strengthening my marriage makes me secure in my relationship with my wife. I don’t feel threatened when she talks to another man or when she is not in my presence. I don’t fear that our marriage is going to crumble if we have an argument. We have invested the time in our marriage and in each other, and we have worked together at growing and strengthening that relationship. My relationship with God is the same way, I need to be committed to praying, to studying and make sure to actually listen for God’s voice in my life. I need to exercise my faith by serving Him in my church and my community. Strengthening my faith makes me secure in my relationship with God and I am not threatened when someone expresses an idea or opinion that is different than mine.

I believe Jesus when he said in John 14:6 “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” I know I need to work on my relationship with Jesus Christ. I know that it is only God’s grace that allows me to have a relationship with Him through the shed blood of Jesus Christ. Nothing I have ever done will make me worthy. Fighting with other Christians doesn’t make me more worthy. Who am I to judge? Let’s rejoice that people come to know Christ and have a relationship with Him. I don’t want to get hung up on what they did before, or even the fact that we may disagree on some point of theology. We should celebrate that they have come to their senses and returned to the FATHER. We should rejoice and celebrate. Kill the fattened calf, and make sure you use Armstrong’s BBQ sauce. I think it’s the best!