In Jesus Holy Name September 16, 2007
Text: Luke 15:1-6 Redeemer Lutheran
“The Heart of God Seeks the Lost”
Scores of tiny figures moving up and down the rubble, back and forth. It’s hard to see the ground beneath them. They came from all over America. Like an army of ants, they worked and worked and worked as if they could never stop. A slab here, a steel girder there, cranes moving mountains of concrete. All their labors with one purpose driving them, searching, searching, searching. They were searching for the lost.
On September 11th, the City of New York lost several high rise buildings, called the Twin Towers. They lost most of their first response fire and rescue vehicles, and an endless number of computers, cars, and business records. But those who labored at ground zero were not searching for computers. They were not digging for lost fire trucks. They were seeking, with all their strength, for lost comrades, for missing loved ones, for fellow human beings lost, whether dead or alive.
In today’s bible passage, we read about a God who is on a never-ending search for the lost and missing. God is like a shepherd looking for a lost sheep, a woman searching for a lost coin, God invites us to rejoice – “rejoice with me, for what was lost has been found”.
When Jesus visited the home of Zacchaeus in Jericho, Luke records Jesus. “For the Son of man came to seek and save the lost.” That was his mission. That was his purpose.
When Adam & Eve were lost, God came looking. God came searching. He found them hiding and afraid. In both the O.T. and N.T. we encounter a God who is on a mission to seek the lost and redeem His people. The central act of God in the O.T. is the Exodus, a divine intervention into human history to free His people from slavery. The decisive act of God in the N.T is the divine intervention of God into human history at Bethlehem to free us from slavery and sin.
Hebrews 2:14 He became one of us …”Since we have flesh and blood, he too shared in our humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death, that is the devil, and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death.”
The Hebrew slaves were destined for the Promised Land, a land flowing with milk and honey. Jesus promises his followers the abundant life. He invites us to “cast our burdens upon him.” He invites us to pray for his intervention into our personal history.
Jesus said “I tell you the truth, my Father will give you whatever you ask in my name … Ask and you will receive so that your joy may be complete”. John 16:23-24
God was always at work to save his people. One time he sent a little shepherd boy with a few stones and a sling shot to whip a Philistine giant. After the resurrection of Jesus, God sent the Holy Spirit, the promised comforter, Counselor, to serve as the continuing presence of God in the lives of His people. “Much like the pillar of fire and cloud by day given to the ancient wilderness – wanderers in the Exodus to guide them, so the Spirit of God guides the people of God, the followers of Jesus as the move from Jerusalem, to Jude, Samaria, Fresno & Beyond.
God has a purpose for His people. When Moses encountered God in the burning bush, He soon found himself on the way to Egypt. When Moses and the children of Israel reached Mt. Sinai, God again invited Moses to come up onto the mountain. Listen to the words God spoke to Moses – revealing his heart for people.
Read: Exodus 19:3-6
God rescued his people so they could be his partners. They were chosen to be the “priest of God” representing him to the whole earth.
Listen to the words of I Peter 1:3-5 ……… and promise. Romans 5:1-2, 6 …… for what purpose?
I Peter 2:9-12
Yes, we live in the post modern world, a world filled with people who are insecure about their eternal destiny. We are surrounded by people who have been told “there are no absolutes.” They are lost. A few weeks ago I shared with you an experience that Chuck had with a gentleman who he had hired to clean their windows. The man said that he had grown up with parents who were atheist. He did not consider himself an atheist, but one who believed that there was a God. He noted that he was seeking spiritual truth but didn’t know where to go. He was looking some one to tell him more. The children of Israel were to tell the whole world about God and convince the world of his love for them. The disciples were sent out, empowered by the Spirit to proclaim God’s intervention at Bethlehem, His resurrection from the stone walls of death.
The salvation of God has come to us so we can pass it on to others. “The church was created to be the people of God to join Him in His redemptive mission.” to seek and save the lost. The church was not created to serve itself. The Church is the Bride of Christ, designed for reproduction, accepting people whom God brings to our doorsteps.
Folks! What are the words on the insert in your bulletin? Our mission is to “connect our unchurched friends to Jesus”. Look at what is being offered! 10 choices for home or Sunday bible classes. Home bible study groups are designed to invite your unchurched friends to a home because for many these church doors are too threatening until they know they will be accepted.
You have the opportunity to share Jesus right here. Two entry point events are planned for October – October 13th: A golf tournament and October fest dinner – a great event that enables your unchurched friends to connect with we who know Jesus. The second is October 20th. A Women’s luncheon at Piccadilly Inn with an inspirational speaker and music.
Only 49% of adults in America belong to a Christian Church. Today, 149 million “unchurched” Americans await an invitation to know more about Jesus and His secure offer of eternal life. You have the opportunity to study and train for a mission trip to Thailand or Hong Kong where you will share the love of Jesus with children, and adults, teaching both English and God’s word.
In this 15th chapter of Luke, these three parables are well known. Jesus told these parables in response to criticism from the Pharisees. The Pharisees truly believed that a person could be saved and earn God’s love by keeping the commandments. “The Jewish rule book was quite clear about Jewish religious behavior. Rabbis do not eat with people of the land who do not keep Jewish law. “Judaism had developed a system of legalism which made religion into a matter of keeping a balance sheet, a statement of debits and credits in our dealings with a righteous God. Rabbinical Judaism declared a man or woman righteous if his/her merits out-weighed his/her transgressions. If a person tried hard, but didn’t have enough good merits he or she could draw upon a credit amount of merit piled up by Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and others.” People were hungry for a relationship with God. They flocked to the words of Jesus for He spoke of God’s love, God’s grace for sinners.
Every act of charity, almsgiving and piety had credit value and if your good deeds outweighed your bad deeds you would be acquitted on judgment day. We still know people who think the same.
In response to that false theology, the false understanding of God, Jesus tells 3 parables. He begins by saying; “If you were a shepherd and had a hundred sheep, but you came home at night and counted them and discovered that you only had 99, what would you do? Let me tell you what you would do. You would go out and search for that lost sheep. You would search the rocks and ledges until you found it. And when you found it you would put it on your shoulders and come home rejoicing.
Right now, in America, there is a spiritual hunger. This spiritual awaking lacks Christian content. Left to their own imagination people will devise all sorts of crazy stuff about God, from New Age crystals to seekers of knowledge and self-enlightenment.
In the summer of 2002, the country spent several anxious days concerned about the fate of nine miners trapped in a mine in Pennsylvania. Rescue efforts involved several innovative strategies, including the pumping of heated air down a shaft. As the workers emerged from their ordeal, so did their story of survival. One key element was their decision to huddle together to stay warm and in touch with one another in the cold darkness of the collapsed mine.
The church in North America often resembles these miners…feeling that Christianity is under attack….watching the argument over crosses being removed, and political correctness that allows other religions to be intolerant but calling Christians intolerant and outdated…. The tendency is to huddle together in the building and pray for God to “rapture” us out of this mess.
Instead the church, and each of us, should adopt the role of the rescue workers on the surface at ground zero. They refused to quit, worked 24/7, and were willing to go to Plan B or whatever it took to effect a rescue
God is calling us listen for the voices of those calling out of the darkness, seek the lost and rejoice when the lost are found.
