Understand
Pt. 1 – Found People
I. Introduction
There is a high value placed on knowledge and understanding in the Word. In fact, Solomon was blessed in part because of his desire and request for wisdom. On numerous occasions in Scripture we are encouraged to seek knowledge/understanding . . . Proverbs 2:1-5 is one of the key passages regarding the pursuit of understanding or insight.
1-5 Good friend, take to heart what I'm telling you; collect my counsels and guard them with your life. Tune your ears to the world of Wisdom; set your heart on a life of Understanding.
That's right—if you make Insight your priority, and won't take no for an answer, Searching for it like a prospector panning for gold, like an adventurer on a treasure hunt, Believe me, before you know it Fear-of-God will be yours; you'll have come upon the Knowledge of God.
So, I want to talk to you about some things that you need to understand and that we as a body must understand! If we are going to be great together there are several key things to understand! I want to address these items because we have to be in harmony about what is important to us! To do this I will tell you that I am purposely going to simplify everything. I am going to make fewer and very simple straightforward points and statement. I don’t want to impress you I want to make sure we understand what is important.
II. Text
Luke 15:4-10 ... entire chapter
4-7"Suppose one of you had a hundred sheep and lost one. Wouldn't you leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the lost one until you found it? When found, you can be sure you would put it across your shoulders, rejoicing, and when you got home call in your friends and neighbors, saying, 'Celebrate with me! I've found my lost sheep!' Count on it—there's more joy in heaven over one sinner's rescued life than over ninety-nine good people in no need of rescue.
8-10"Or imagine a woman who has ten coins and loses one. Won't she light a lamp and scour the house, looking in every nook and cranny until she finds it? And when she finds it you can be sure she'll call her friends and neighbors: 'Celebrate with me! I found my lost coin!' Count on it—that's the kind of party God's angels throw every time one lost soul turns to God."
III. Understanding
Jesus, like other preachers/teachers before Him and after Him, tell stories to make their point! That is what He did in the parables! He used simple stories to communicate kingdom principles and truth! However, Jesus goes one step further than most teachers/preachers and actually takes steps to live out what He has taught with His words with His actions!
His words are clear. His word teaches us what our mandate is! His simple illustrations force us to gain clear focus! Our mission, the driving force, the thing that should get us up and keep us up and that we should be expending our energy on is lost folks!
He could have commissioned us to do many things with His words: Save the whales, save the planet, educate people, and any other cause all of which are worthy and definitely demand attention. Make no mistake about it with Word Jesus addresses what we should be about . . . He says it strikingly clear in Matthew 28. There can be no misunderstanding. "18... All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
He reveals that our understanding must be that Found People . . . Find People!
He drives this home with words, but most dramatically He drives this message home with His actions!
Jesus was constantly on a mission to find people . . . He found Philip! John 1:43-45 . . . 43 The next day Jesus decided to leave for Galilee. Finding Philip, he said to him, “Follow me.” 44 Philip, like Andrew and Peter, was from the town of Bethsaida. 45 Philip found Nathanael and told him, “We have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law, and about whom the prophets also wrote—Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.”
Did you get that? He found Philip!
He preaches with His actions again in John 4 verse 4. The passage makes a literal statement (He needed to go to through Samaria), but I think it was more than just a necessary travel route to get to another destination. I believe you can read it like this . . . He needed to go there. There he finds the Woman at the Well. He went out of His way to find this woman! She gets it . . . John 4:28-30, 39 - 28 The woman then left her waterpot, went her way into the city, and said to the men, 29 “Come, see a Man who told me all things that I ever did. Could this be the Christ?” 30 Then they went out of the city and came to Him. 39 And many of the Samaritans of that city believed in Him because of the word of the woman who testified, “He told me all that I ever did.”
Jesus was about finding people! And then He expects people to in turn find others! Philip and The Woman at the Well are so moved by being found that they can’t wait contain the Good News and set out immediately to find those who needed to be found!
So the painful question is who have you found lately? Have you been found? If so, the natural progression is supposed to be that we in turn find someone else. Who have you gone out of your way, purposely set out, planned, to find? You are found so who have you found? (Slide 15) Could we perhaps prove our foundness by our willingness to find?
I refuse to pat us on the back when we have packed out this room, because our mandate and our potential is to reach so many more! We understand the HARVEST IS PLENTIFUL (Matthew 9:35-38) and in that harvest are people we love and care about deeply!!! We have a mandate to populate heaven and plunder hell!
Jesus goes on in the Parable of the Pearl and in the Parable of the Great Treasure (which many believe speaks to the value and importance of the Kingdom) about the fact that when we recognize the great value of something we should risk everything to obtain that prize. I think this also speaks to how we should go after souls! We should risk it all corporately and individually you should be more concerned about the lost than your car, your house, your reputation, or your comfort zone. What are you risking? Jesus was so committed to winning those that were lost that risks His life! If our Lord gave His life shouldn't we give ours for the same cause?
Jesus shares a parable about a Lost Coin that shows the desperation that must once again consume us again! Although the lady in the parable has other coins when she realizes that one is lost she goes on an all out quest to locate the lost. She sweeps the house out. She removes every distraction. She gets rid of anything that would stand in her way of finding what was lost! What do you need to remove? What distraction needs to be swept aside? What in your life needs to rearranged to go after the lost again?
In fact, it is impossible to really love Jesus and not be concerned about people who are lost and haven't come to Christ!
We have become comfortable in our salvation when we were supposed to become contagious in our salvation!
Philip caught it! He is found and in turn finds someone else.
Have you caught it? What stands in your way of reaching the lost? Is it your schedule? Is it your debt? Is it your callousedness? Is it fear? Is it comfort? Is it apathy?
We must once again have a heart for the harvest! We cannot and will not focus primarily on keeping the saints satisfied! We must get to those who are lost! We have to believe again that the only hope is Jesus. We must once again believe that we have the greatest answer and solution to the problems and pains people are dealing with now!
The second part of this is that we should celebrate what God celebrates. I am always thankful for great services. I am not interested in attending a church that services feel like a self-help seminar and there is no encounter with God. However, at the same time a good service isn't what we should celebrate the most! What should grab our attention and cause us to rejoice and get the most excited is when even one is saved. The roof should rattle every time a sinner comes home! The most intense prayers should be prayed when we are praying for the lost and the most joy should be exhibited when a soul is saved. Why? The Law of Celebration . . . What you refuse to celebrate will ultimately exit your life!
I am thankful for a new and better look on the outside and inside. I am thankful for a better financial outlook for the church. Those are trophies of God's grace that we put on display. However, what causes me to celebrate and get the most jacked up is when one soul is brought to the King!
You can't settle for partyless weeks, months and years in your life. We can't settle for partyless services here! If you are found we must in turn find!
Are you found? Who will you find? How?
