How You Can Be Lost
Luke 15
God PLEASE, I’m begging you like I have never begged you for anything, PLEASE bring him this way!!
It was a beautiful day on the Snake River, just outside of Jackson Hole Wyoming. We were driving along and saw a great place for a picnic. Actually we had seen it the day before and had come today with inner tubes for a fun time floating on the river. The water was moving, but not too fast. Donna and the kids went got out in the water with the tubes while I ran 200 yards downstream where I would wait out in the water to catch the kids as they floated down. I had told Donna to send one inner tube empty so I could make sure everything was OK.
Less than 15 seconds after stepping into the water… everything was NOT OK.
I waded into what was benign water for the first 15 feet. Then the ground dropped off and I found myself waist-deep in water that was moving so dangerously fast that I could hardly keep my footing. I looked up and saw the empty inner tube coming. It was then that I realized the river had a fork. I was on the right side of the fork. The left side was separated by a lot of debris that had washed down in recent storms. I saw it before but it was about 75 feet from the shore. I did not expect us to go out there. The inner tube came around the bend and swung wide. It was coming down my side but far to my right… in deeper water. I tried to take one step to my right to get the tube but the water was too strong. I could only watch as the tube floated by just one foot from my fingertips. I stood up to call to Donna and say, “Don’t send the kids.” I was too late. Ethan was already rounding the bend. Much to my horror, this tube, with the added weight of Ethan, swung even wider and I was certain Ethan would go down the other side of the fork. I looked behind me to see where he would go. The two branches of the river came together about 200 yards behind me. I knew that if Ethan went to the other side, my only option was to let the water take me downstream where I could HOPEFULLY get my hands on Ethan. I did not know where we might end up… But I knew that we were going there together. I prayed, I think out loud, like I have never prayed before or since. I was more afraid than ever before. My first prayer was answered… Ethan and the tube came to the right. But things were still not good. They were farther out than the empty tube had been. I had absolutely no choice but to get out there, deeper, before Ethan got there. I took one step and the water swept me away. I was drawn straight towards the debris. I was totally at the mercy of the now torrential waters and it took me toward the debris. My mind flashed a picture of me being swept under the debris, caught by my shirt and drowned. Sure enough, the water swept me right into the debris. The debris grabbed my shirt. I slid my arms over my head and came out of the shirt. A few feet down stream, I bobbed up… looking for Ethan. I spotted him, coming my way. I was trying to slow down and let him catch up so we could go down the river together when my feet found a hold. I stood there, feet wide, slowly being washed backwards. Just as I got wedged into a place, Ethan came to me. He was coming fast now, and I was sure he would knock me down. I feared that if he did, he might slip out of my hands. I decided the only choice was to jump on the tube with him and we would float until the tube popped or we could get out. But at the last minute I just grabbed him and picked him up.
I now had Ethan in my arms. I knew that no matter what happened now I would not let go. I looked at the shore just 15 feet away and wanted to go there but I was afraid to move either foot, not sure if we would be washed away. Now God answered the prayers of my friend Harvey, who was standing on the shore and watching in horror… I was able to get to shore.
That day I almost lost something very, very dear to me. It is with the memory of that fear that I read the three parables in Luke 15… parables about lost things. If you have ever had an experience where you lost something and were afraid or crushed… try to use that emotion as you picture these situations of loss.
Here, Jesus is using his favorite and most common type of sermon… a story or parable. Jesus loved to use stories because they engage and captivate the listener. Jesus was many things… but he was not boring. Jesus tells four stories to teach about being lost. He does not tell three stories to teach one lesson. One story would do that. He tells three because He wants to teach about being lost and there are several ways to be lost.
In the first story, a shepherd has 100 sheep and one goes missing. This story teaches us the first way to be lost…
1. OUT OF THE FLOCK
I don’t claim to know a whole lot about sheep. I have touched one. I have stepped in sheep droppings. I was rammed by one at a petting zoo. That is all I know. But I have read… that sheep have notoriously bad eyesight. I read that sheep can see clearly for about 6 feet. After that they rely on other senses and instinct.
When sheep get lost from the fold, like the one in this story, they don’t think to themselves, “I’m going to get lost.” They don’t even think, “I think I’ll go over there about 15 feet… Oh, no, I can’t do that, I can only see 6 feet and I might get lost.”
Sheep just look over there about 6 feet and say, “That grass looks good.” and they move 6 feet away. Then they repeat that about 20 times and all at once, they look up and cannot see the flock. If they have wandered far enough, or if they are upwind of the flock… they cannot smell the flock. They will call out to the flock, but if they have wandered far enough, the flock cannot hear them.
Then… through no plan and without intention… the lamb is LOST.
This sheep does not represent people who are spiritually lost and unsaved. Remember, this lamb WAS IN THE FLOCK… was born into the flock…SAVED
This lamb represents SAVED PEOPLE WHO ARE LOST
Saved people who are lost???? If that phrase confuses you… it is OK
This lamb represents Christians who are OUT OF TOUCH… with God and the kingdom.
They are part of the flock… born into the flock…SAVED… but later they drift away. Not all at once… Not by design… Just a little at a time with no intention of drifting.
SIX FEET AT A TIME.
They stop coming to Sunday School… or preaching…. or stop reading the bible…. or praying daily… or move away from Christian friends.
Little by little… six feet at a time… they move away from spiritual closeness to God… or to his people.
They don’t plan it. They don’t even sense it is happening.
They are CARELESS CHRISTIANS
One day they just look up and notice that they are lost… out of touch… out of fellowship.
What should they do?
The lamb would call out, sniff the wind, and call out again.
But, the lamb can be too far away for the flock to hear.
And a Christian can get so far away that the church does not know.
Sure, they will know if you are away from church… but they may not know you are lost because you have been away so long they think you want to be away.
But here is the word of hope to those who drift or roam away, by accident or without intention…
You are never so far away that the shepherd does not know.
The shepherd knew the lamb was out of touch.
And unlike the church… the shepherd does not just accept that situation.
HE LEFT THE 99 AND WENT AND SEARCHED FOR AND FOUND THE LAMB.
God will not give up on you… God will come to you… God will bring you home… if you will let him.
Why? When God looks at the lamb which is out of touch… he has the same emotion I had when I saw Ethan being swept away… I would do ANYTHING… to get him back.
God will do ANYTHING to get you back.
The second story was about a woman who had 10 coins and lost one. This story teaches us the second way to be lost…
2. OUT OF CIRCULATION
Why did Jesus say the woman had 10 coins? Why not 7… or 12??
In Jesus day, women were not equal to men. Not legally, not socially, not educationally, not in any way.
So, when a man and woman married, the woman came into the relationship as an unequal partner. She brought nothing to the relationship. As a matter of fact, the man brought the property, the status, the social rank… everything.
Let me illustrate. If you have a young, healthy horse and I want to trade you an old horse, I would have to give you some “boot”… something to sweeten the deal… to make it an even trade.
Women were considered so inferior to men, that to marry your daughter to a man’s son, you had to add some “boot” to sweeten the deal… to make it a fair trade.
I am sure that idea rubs most of you the wrong way.
But that is how it was.
A man who had a daughter would save money until she was of marrying age, and would give it to here in ten coins. It was her dowry, her boot.
It was so important, so critical to her getting married, that in a lawsuit against a debtor, you could not include the daughter’s dowry as part of the estate. It could not be taken from her by law.
This woman is not married and this is her dowry. If she were to lose part of the dowry, she could NEVER get married.
When Jesus says she lost one coin… it was much more serious than one coin… it was her hope, her future.
Fear would have gripped her like it did me in that river.
What did she do?
She got out the 1 million candle watt power flashlight and moved every piece of furniture… and would not stop until the coin was found.
That is a picture of the resolve of God to find those that are lost by being OUT OF CIRCULATION.
This coin represents those who are lost, to usefulness in the Kingdom because they are out of circulation.
They have decided they are too old to serve. They have served long enough. They don’t have any talents. They are too busy.
The excuse does not matter… they refuse to be used by God, in the church, for the kingdom.
Maybe they used to be in circulation… serving.
Maybe they never were.
Either way… they are as useless to God as a coin under the couch… or behind the chest of drawers. NONE!!!!
Unlike the woman in the story… GOD KNOWS EXACTLY WHERE YOU ARE.
Like the coin… you can do no good for God, for the church, for the kingdom, for the lost… FOR ANYONE.
Coins do not belong in piggybanks, in jars, or in cigar boxes.
When they are out of circulation… they can’t help anyone.
I am not discouraging saving money… just save it in the bank and let it be circulated where it can do some good.
Christians who take themselves out of circulation… out of service… are doing no good either.
They are lost to usefulness.
This story makes it plain… God is not content when you are out of circulation. He will give his total attention to getting you back into circulation.
The last parable , the Lost Son, actually teaches us two ways to be lost.
3. OUT OF RELATIONSHIP WITH THE FATHER
The son, does represent those who are UNSAVED!!!
This son, unlike the sheep or the coin, made a conscious choice to disobey and reject the father and His love.
He made a conscious choice… I know what my Father wants and I know what I want… I am going to do what I want, and the heck with what Dad wants.
THAT IS SIN!!!
He chose to sin. He chose to disobey. He chose to go his own way.
That son represents every single one of us… at some point we chose to go our way. We sinned and knew it.
This story brings in personal accountability and personal responsibility.
Unlike the sheep and the coin… the owner did not leave the 99 or light a light and search.
In this story, the father did the hardest thing of all… he waited.
The son had to come to himself and REPENT.
It would do no good to lock him in his room and not let him leave.
It would do no good to go to the far country and drag him back.
The father had to wait.
One difference in the story and with lost people… God does not just sit and wait, inactive and uninvolved.
God uses the HS who is constantly wooing you back.
But once the boy repented, the Father jumped up and went to the boy and showered him with love and attention.
Today God is waiting for lost people.
The HS is wooing. The Word is working… But the Father is waiting.
He is not sleeping on the porch. He is not careless about it.
He is in the start position, like a sprinter in the blocks waiting for the starter to fire the gun.
He has forgiveness and love and acceptance and gifts under his arms. He can hardly wait to welcome you home.
Will you listen to the HS?
Will you yield to His wooing
Will you come to the Father?
There is another way to be lost…like the older son…
4. OUT OF RELATIONSHIP WITH OUR BROTHER
The older son knew that his brother was gone. He did not know he was hungry, and homeless, and considering eating pig slop.
But he knew he was gone.
Did he care? Was he sad? Was there any mercy or tenderness for the brother?
NO.
That same attitude is what inspired this sermons and these stories.
Jesus was surrounded with people who were so self-righteous that when Jesus ministered to the prostitutes and thieves… instead of being tender-hearted and caring for those people… they just turned on Jesus.
Jesus was surrounded by self-righteousness and bitterness, and condemnation and hatred that it broke his heart.
I was the youth minister of an inter-city church, in a part of town that was experiencing white-flight. It was a formerly large and prestigious but now struggling and still very bigoted congregation.
There were exactly 4 children and youth in the church. I started having some activities and encouraging local (black) kids to attend. One day the pastor calls me into his office and tells me not to have those kids back in our church. I was shocked and asked, “You don’t want me to minister to neighborhood kids?”
He said, that is right. Then he said something that will haunt me forever. He said, “We are comfortable.”
Two years later the church was DEAD!!!!
That pastor had NO NERCY for the lost.
He just wanted to maintain his prejudice.
Later I was youth minister at a church with a gymnasium. On Friday nights we had skating in the gym. The music they played was hymns. The kids hated it. I was young and passionate about the youth and to try to reach more youth so I got some CHRISTIAN rock music with powerful messages. The kids loved it. Attendance picked up in a couple of weeks. One Friday the pastor drops in. I was skating and the music stops. The pastor runs the kids off and lambasts me for using “rock” music. I tried to show him the words to the songs. He did not care. He would hear nothing about it. I was NEVER to play that evil music again. We went back to hymns and the kids quit coming.
Both of those pastors were good men… but they did not have enough mercy for the lost that they could get beyond their prejudice and bitterness.
The older son, and the crowds represent that same type of attitude.
I pray this church will never get “comfortable” with people being lost or so hardened in its ways that it will not be willing to welcome new ways of reaching the lost.
INVITATION
I hve a powerpoing for this sermon... rhpendleton57@gmail.com
