This sermon is an adaptation of Bill Hybels’ introduction to the video curriculum “Becoming a Contagious Christian”.
MAIN IDEA:
Lost people matter to God - and they should matter to us as well.
1. Something valuable is missing.
2. God performs an all-out search for lost people.
3. When lost people are found its time to party!
OBJECTIVES:
1. The listener will be encouraged at how valuable they are to God.
2. The listener will be motivated to follow God’s lead in reaching out to lost people.
INTRO:
Have you ever lost something really important?
I’ll never forget the time I lost the keys to the church van and couldn’t get home from a week at High School camp. A VERY nice lady bailed me out by driving 3 hours to bring me a spare! I had those keys in my hand 1 hour before we were supposed to leave, but somehow in the midst of cleaning up our cabin, the keys must have been put in the trash. We looked and looked but just couldn’t find them!
We all know the pain of losing something that matters to us – whether it is a person, or an object, or even just computer work that is lost when a computer crashes. Our stomach gets this sinking feeling, and we begin to feel a bit panicky as the realization sets in that we’ve really LOST something!
In our study of Jesus’ parables I’m going to do just two more messages – today and next week. Today we’ll take a look at one place in scripture where Jesus told 3 parables back to back to back about just what I’ve been talking about – losing things!
As we take a look at these 3 stories, what we’re going to notice is Jesus driving home a very important point about how God feels about people just like us. As I read through these verses now, be looking for the common elements that come through.
Luke 15:1-24 (NIV)
1Now the tax collectors and "sinners" were all gathering around to hear him. 2But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, "This man welcomes sinners and eats with them."
3Then Jesus told them this parable:
So - can you picture the scene? Jesus is surrounded by a large group of irreligious people. They don’t look or act like people that the “religious” people of the day hung around. In fact, these religious people were off to the side shaking their heads at Jesus’ behavior. Jesus knew exactly what they were thinking, and he launches into not 1, not 2, but 3 straight parables directed right at them. First...
(MY PARAPHRASE)
Think about it. If one of you owned 100 sheep and you realized one was lost, what would you do? You’d leave those 99 in the open country and go searching for the lost one until you found it! Then when you find it – you’d put it up on your shoulders and bring it back to the fold. When you did, you’d gather all your friends and say “Let’s have a party – I’ve found my lost sheep!”
I tell you that just like this, there is more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over 99 people righteous people already saved.
I imagine Jesus paused for a moment - looked them in the eyes, and continued...
Or how about this one? Suppose a woman has ten silver coins and loses one. What would she do? Even if it was dark, she’d get up, light a lamp, sweep the entire house and search for it until she found it! Then when she finds it she calls all her friends and neighbors and says, “Let’s have a party! I found my lost coin!”
In the same way, I tell you, the angels in heaven rejoice when one sinner repents of his sins.
Another pause. Perhaps Jesus wondered if they were still with him - and he launches into the most fantastic story yet...
There was a man who had two sons. The younger one said to his Dad: “Please give me my half of the estate now so I can start enjoying it!” So the father did just that, dividing his property among his two sons.
Not long after that, the younger son took off for a distant place, where he squandered his inheritance on wild living. After he’d spent everything, a famine hit the country and he found himself in a desperate situation: penniless, hungry, and alone.
He managed to find work tending to a herd of pigs, and he was so hungry he longed to eat some of the food he was giving to them! About this time he remembered how well his father’s servants lived back home. “Whoa – if I lived there again I’d be doing better than I am now. Why don’t I just go home and beg for him to take me in as one of his servants?” So he got up and made the journey home again.
As he was finally walking up the road approaching his Father’s home, his father saw him and was filled with compassion and love for him. So against all social customs he RAN out to meet his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.
In the midst of this embrace, the son tried to get out his rehearsed speech: “Father – I’ve sinned against God and against you. I’m not worthy to be considered your son…”
But the father cut him off. Motioning to his servants, who were watching the scene in amazement, he said: “Quick – get the best robe we’ve got and put it on him. Bring him some new sandals. Put a beautiful gold ring on his finger. Then kill the fattened calf and let’s have a feast! For this son of mine was dead and is alive again – he was lost and is found!”
And so the party began.
I wonder what all those “religious types” did then. All 3 stories tell the same message. Unlike them, Jesus was saying lost people matter to God.
We know this because of the 3 common elements of these stories:
1. In each story, something of great value was missing.
-the sheep was a significant part of the livlihood of the shepherd.
-the lost coin - 1 tenth of the woman’s wealth! Vital to the old woman’s survival
-and it goes without saying that the lost son was of great value to his father.
When people are separated from God by sin, He feels the loss, and his love still says “Even though you are way off track, you still matter to Me! You really do!”
The truth that these stories in Luke 15 teaches is we have never locked eyes with another human being who isn’t valuable to God.
This leads to the second common thread in Jesus 3 stories...
2. That which was missing was important enough to warrant an all-out search.
-When the shepherd discovered he’d lost a sheep, he didn’t just say, “Oh well, I hope they find their way back.” He didn’t just leave a little trail of sheep snacks. He did something drastic - he left his other sheep unattended for a time so he could go out and search for that sheep.
-When the woman discovered she’d lost 10% of her savings, she didn’t even wait until the morning to try to find it - the scripture says she lit a lamp immediately and searched diligently till she found it
-The father whose son left of his own choice - he allowed him to go, but you can just about imagine him scanning the horizon day after day, just willing this wayward son to appear. And when he does he appear - what’s the father’s response? He hikes up his robe and, contrary to socially accepted custom, runs to meet his son.
The point is, when you really value something and it is lost - you just naturally want to search for it.
Jesus is teaching us that God values people so much that he searches for those who are lost and separated from Him. In fact, Jesus’ own life mission statement is this:
Luke 19:10 (NIV) “For [I] came to seek and to save what was lost.”
Elsewhere, John tells us…
John 3:17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.
This is why Jesus came! To reach out to lost people and love them and provide the way for them to be saved! As God’s representative on earth he did exactly what the shepherd, the woman, and the father in these stories did: he valued lost people enough to go where they were and find them!
The third common thread that runs through the stories of Luke 15 is this.
3. Retrievals result in rejoicing!
-The shepherd retrieved the sheep and threw a party!
-The woman rediscovered her coin and threw another party!
-The son came home and the father threw the biggest party of all.
As Jesus told it, he tells that around the throne of heaven, the angels of God rejoice - they party - when one person who has been lost is found!
The picture we have is that when I first repented of my sins and surrendered my life to the leadership of Jesus Christ, even as a ten year old boy - the scene in heaven erupted! a Banner was hung there with MY NAME on it. And my name was added to the invitation list for the greatest party ever to be held - the wedding feast of the Lamb of God.
But this celebration was not just for me. It’s been repeated time and again for you, and you, and you. And if you haven’t come to God to make Him the leader of your life, you need to know He’s got the banner waiting. The angelic choir is standing by. And his greatest desire is for you to understand how much God values you.
These stories of Jesus teach us that lost people matter to God. He values people so much that he pursues us.
CONCLUSION:
What’s the point of these stories?
1. Know that God wants a relationship with you.
If you have wandered from him, all he is waiting is for you to make the first move back toward him – and then a party is waiting!
2. If you are a Christian, you are to re-present God in this world.
This means to seek out lost people, to love them, to pray for them, to demonstrate the heart of God toward them so that they might be truly found!
For me this is a constant challenge – but I dare not forget that I am a believer today because someone shared with me the love of God, and because God valued me so much he sought after me. I don’t want to be equated with those “religious types” Jesus addressed with these stories, and my prayer is that you don’t want to be either! May we follow Jesus example in seeking and saving the lost as His ambassadors this week.
