How to make the angels laugh – Pt 2
Reading: Luke chapter 15 verses 1-10
(1). The first thing needed for reaching the lost is compassion.
• Jesus had the "tax collectors and sinners" gathering around him.
• Notice these are lost people who were not running from Jesus but rather running to him.
• They were not avoiding him, ignoring him, or even hostile towards him.
• Verse 1 says that they were "gathering around to hear him."
Question: Why were sinners so willing and even eager to listen to Jesus?
Answer:
• It certainly wasn’t because Jesus had an easy message that tickled people’s ears.
• Jesus message had a cutting edge to all those who listened.
• It wasn’t because Jesus compromised on their sinful lifestyles;
• And said that everything they were doing was acceptable.
• It wasn’t because Jesus was putting on;
• Some sensationalistic show of signs and wonders.
• In Luke’s narrative the emphasis is on Jesus’ teaching,
• And not on his miracles – they are hardly even mentioned.
• Why did the "lost" seek out Jesus rather than run from him?
• I believe the answer is they recognised his compassion.
• Unlike the Pharisees who showed a condemning attitude.
• Jesus showed a loving attitude – he showed compassion to these people!
Ill:
• The Bible says in verse 2 that Jesus:
• "Welcomes sinners and eats with them."
• One of the definitions for the Greek word translated as "welcomes";
• Is to "receive as a friend."
Ill:
• When D.L. Moody was directing a Sunday School in Chicago;
• One boy walked several miles to attend;
• Somebody asked him;
• “Why don’t you go to a Sunday School closer to him?”
• He replied;
• “Because they know how to love a fella over there”.
This was the attitude of toward those who were lost in a sinful lifestyle:
• He did not come to judge (to point the finger);
• But he did come to save (to forgive and renew).
• Jesus welcomed them;
• He was compassionate and accepting of them despite their sins and faults.
• He was a friend and not a foe.
• Jesus had a attitude that lost people were attracted to,
Question: Do we?
• For us as individuals and as a church if we are ever going to reach people;
• We are going to have to show and have that same love and acceptance.
ill
• A friend of mine who is a police officer,
• Often responded to traffic accidents, some of them with very severe injuries.
• At the scene of these accidents there are three groups of people,
• Each with a different response toward those involved in the accident.
(a).
• The first group is the bystanders and onlookers.
• They are curious and watch to see what happens but have little active involvement.
(b).
• The second group is the police officers,
• Their response was to investigate the cause of the accident, assign blame,
• And to give out appropriate warnings and punishments.
(c).
• The third group is the paramedics.
• They are the people usually most welcomed by those involved in the accident.
• They couldn’t care less whose fault the accident was;
• And they did not engage in lecturing about bad driving habits.
• Their response was to help those who were hurt.
• They bandaged wounds, freed trapped people, and gave words of encouragement.
Three groups of people:
• One group are uninvolved,
• One group is assigning blame and assessing punishment,
• And one group is helping the hurting.
• Question: Which group are you in?
Quote:
“For God so loved the world, not just a few,
The wise and great, the noble and the true,
Or those of favoured class or rank or hue.
God loved the world. Do you’”
(2). The second thing needed for reaching the lost is effort.
Quote: verse 4:
“Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Does he not leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? 5And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders 6and goes home”.
Quote: verse 7:
“Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins and loses one. Does she not light a lamp, sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it?”
Ill:
• Phone call: “Will you come and……….”
• My answer was; “No!”
It took effort to find the sheep and the coin:
• And it will take that same kind of diligent seeking for us to reach the lost.
• In these two parables,
• Jesus emphasizes the effort that went into finding the lost.
• In both cases the thing that was lost had to be sought after with great effort.
• The shepherd did not wait for the lost sheep to wander home;
• And the woman did not wait for the lost coin to turn up.
• In our Christian lives and in the church it sometimes seems that we do the opposite.
• We tend to wait for the lost to come to us.
• We’re passive rather than active.
• This has to change if we’re to reach the lost like Jesus did.
Ill:
• The New Testament records tell of forty people, each suffering from some disease,
• Who had been healed by Jesus.
• Of this number,
• Thirty-four were either brought to Jesus by friends or Jesus was taken to them.
• In only six cases out of forty;
• Did sufferers find their way to Christ without assistance."
(3). The third thing needed to reach the lost its persistence.
• Note: the words in verse 4: “Until he finds it!”
• Note: the words in verse 8: “Until she finds it!”
• In both these cases Jesus notes specifically;
• That the person continued seeking after the lost item until he or she found it.
• In other words,
• Jesus seems to be pointing out that persistence was a needed quality for success.
• After all, lost sheep among spacious fields and hills,
• And lost coins in the dirt floor of the Jewish home;
• Would not have been easily or quickly found.
It’s the same way with reaching the lost.
• Sometimes it takes years and years of persistence,
• But we should not be discouraged or give up.
• If a sheep or coin was valuable enough to persistently search for,
• Then people who are spiritually lost are too valuable to give up on.
Ill:
Yo-Yo Ma is a French-born Chinese-American virtuoso cellist and composer;
• He has won multiple Grammy Awards.
• He is one of the most revered cello players of the 20th and 21st centuries
• Following an exhilarating performance at New York’s Carnegie Hall,
• He went home, slept, and awoke the next day exhausted and rushed.
• He called for a cab to take him to a hotel on the other side of Manhattan;
• And placed his cello in the boot of the taxi;
• The cello was hand-crafted in Vienna in 1733 and valued at $2.5 million;
• When he reached his destination, he paid the driver, but forgot to take his cello.
• After the cab had disappeared, Ma realized what he had done.
• And so he began a desperate search for the missing instrument.
• Fortunately he had the receipt with the cabby’s ID number.
• After searching all day;
• The taxi was finally located in a garage with the priceless cello still in the boot.
• As he spoke to reporters, Ma’s smile could not be contained.
• Here’s the point, Yo Yo Ma did not quit but persisted in his search;
• Because what was lost was too valuable to give up on.
• The spiritually lost are too valuable for us to quit trying to reach;
• Even though our efforts may seem to make very little impact!
Conclusion:
• The religious leaders of the day had been indifferent toward the lost;
• And even antagonistic toward them coming to Jesus.
• Jesus uses these two parables to illustrate how wrong their response was,
• Especially when compared to how they would have responded towards;
• Recovering something of far less value.
• Jesus pointed out to them;
• How joyful they would have been at the recovery of a lost sheep or lost coin,
• Certainly then they should of been joyous instead of angered at the lost coming to Jesus.
Jesus then pointed out that the one thing that matters most to God is the lost.
• They matter so much to God that when the lost are found,
• Even one of them, all heaven rejoices and throws a party!
• There is more joy over one sinner coming to Jesus;
• Then over ninety-nine people being right where they’re supposed to be with God.
• If lost people matter this much to God,
• Shouldn’t they matter this much to us?
• Shouldn’t we be willing to give everything needed in order to reach the lost?
• My answer is "yes" and I hope yours is also.
• What is needed to reach the lost?
• From this passage we discovered at least three things.
• The first thing needed for reaching the lost is compassion.
• The second thing needed for reaching the lost is effort.
• The third thing needed to reach the lost its persistence.
