Luke 15:1-10 GNB One day when many tax collectors and other outcasts came to listen to Jesus, (2) the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law started grumbling, "This man welcomes outcasts and even eats with them!" (3) So Jesus told them this parable: (4) "Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them---what do you do? You leave the other ninety-nine sheep in the pasture and go looking for the one that got lost until you find it. (5) When you find it, you are so happy that you put it on your shoulders (6) and carry it back home. Then you call your friends and neighbors together and say to them, 'I am so happy I found my lost sheep. Let us celebrate!' (7) In the same way, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine respectable people who do not need to repent. (8) "Or suppose a woman who has ten silver coins loses one of them---what does she do? She lights a lamp, sweeps her house, and looks carefully everywhere until she finds it. (9) When she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbors together, and says to them, 'I am so happy I found the coin I lost. Let us celebrate!' (10) In the same way, I tell you, the angels of God rejoice over one sinner who repents."
WELCOMING THE REPENTANT SINNERS
Text: Luke 15:1 – 10
I once read a story about a mother whose love went the distance for her child. The mother in this story went to help out during harvest time. She took her child with her. She was following the custom of harvest time in Scotland, where the women would help. She placed her child in reach. But, as everyone got busy, an eagle came by and snatched the baby in order to make that baby a meal for her eaglets. The eagle took the baby all the way back to its nest. Many of the men made a valiant effort to climb the vertical wall of rock. There was a sailor who then succeeded to ascend to the top of the cliff but to no avail. Finally, the mother Hannah Lamond, herself began that same endeavor against impossible odds. But, she succeeded in getting to the top of that cliff. She got her child while the eagle was trying to beat Hannah back. But, the eagle's efforts were not as strong as the mother's desire. When everything else failed, it was her love that found a way to rescue her child. The crowd stared in awe as she came back down almost as easily as she went up. And they began to cheer and to rejoice with her. (A. Naismith, 1200 Notes, Quotes and Anecdotes. Great Britain: Pickering Paperbacks, 1988, pp. 124 - 125). That is how God’s love is with us.
Do we rejoice with God and the angels of heaven every time another sinner repents? In Luke 15 , Jesus tells three parables and all three parables end with a celebration. But, not everyone comes to the celebration.
As the scribes and Pharisees were grumbling about how Jesus welcomed sinners and even ate with them, Jesus began to tell these parables (Luke 15:2). Is it odd that the unrepentant are complaining about those who repent? When it comes to the lost, these two stories talk about recovery and rejoicing.
RECOVERY
Did you ever get lost as a child?
1) Frightening Separation: Just recently, our youth group went to a water park in Charleston. While we were there, I noticed that there were employees who were looking for the parents of a child who got lost? They had their radios and were talking back and forth. Apparently, the mystery must have gotten solved. I did not see the celebration, as I was with my own group in a crowded place, but you can bet that there was one.
2) Lost and Found: As a child, my mother once dreamed about me getting lost close to a time in the near future when I did get lost. When I was rejoined with my parents, there was a celebration.
3) Our Stories: All of us probably have a story about getting lost.
It is possible to be lost and not even know it?
1) Ignorance: That seems to be one of the things that this parable points out. Did the sheep know it was lost?
2) Like sheep: Isaiah 53:6 Reminds us that , “All of us were like sheep that had wandered off. We had each gone our own way, but the LORD gave him the punishment we deserved” (CEV).
3) Naive: A pastor named Gary Downing recalled an experience from his younger days when he worked with the county for Youth Corrections. A) They had taken some junior highs on a trip on a pontoon boat down the Mississippi to St. Louis. B) They reached a point where they got stuck on a sand bar. C) Gary went looking for one of the youth who took off. In looking for Lonnie, the young person who had wandered off, he managed to get lost himself. D) He started thinking about having to spend the night in unfamiliar territory with reptiles, animals of prey and insects. E) The other adult leader began to blow the horn on the boat to help Gary find his way back. F) In the meantime, the kid who ran off came back because it was too scary for him. G) Gary mentioned that He used the sound of that horn to navigate back to the boat. (Gary W. Klingsporn. ed. The Library Of Distinctive Sermons. Volume 1. Rev. Dr. Gary W. Downing. “Who Gives A Rip?” Sisters: Questar Publishers, 1996, pp. 191 -192). How often do we help the lost find their way back?
It is possible for the lost to be more than just those outside the flock.
1) Lost citizens of God’s kingdom: Again, think about Isaiah 53:6: “All of us were like sheep that had wandered off. We had each gone our own way, but the LORD gave him the punishment we deserved” (CEV).
2) Lost due to adversity: “While here in the fold, we can suffer loss and be in need of rescue”. Loss can come in a variety of forms, having bills while being unemployed; the death of a loved one—a friend, relative, a child; being separated, divorced or going through a divorce; relocating and starting over in a new place; an uncertain health crisis. (Jerry L. Schmalenberger. The Parables Of Jesus and Their Flip Side. Lima: CSS Publishing Company, Inc, 2001, p. 65). We cannot live without encountering adversity.
3) Recovering the lost: There was a man who had lost his way. He asked his preacher to pray for him. At one time he had been a church leader. He had befriended alcohol only to find that he had become a slave to its vice. When he asked the preacher to pray with him he was sobbing as he said, “I know I’m in the gutter. I know it. But Oh! … I don’t belong there, do I?” Tell me I don’t belong there …” The preacher put his arm around him and said, “No, you don’t belong there; you belong to God. At the last heaven is your home!” (W. E. Can I Know God?. “The Homesickness Of The Soul”. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1960, pp. 60-61).
4) Horn blowers: That preacher was what the Rev. Dr. Gary Downing calls a horn blower. If this pastor had not helped him, he might very well have stayed in his gutter.
REJOICING
There is a connection between our rejoicing and our repentance.
1) Irresponsibility factors: "Sometimes it is our fault that others are lost". (Jerry L. Schmalenberger. The Parables Of Jesus and Their Flip Side. Lima: CSS Publishing Company, Inc, 2001, p. 65). We do not like to hear that do we? That is a hard pill to swallow. That is a hard pill to swallow because it labels us as unconcerned or judgmental.
2) Indifference factors: When others are lost because of our failure to help them find their way, then certainly we need to examine any indifference that we have to the lost and why it is there!
3) Marching Orders: >>>>>>> As His disciples we are called to make disciples (Matthew 28:19). >>>>>>> As His disciples, we are called to be fishers of men (Matthew 4:19). We catch them and worry about letting God clean them! >>>>>>> As His disciples we are called to be the salt of the earth, the light of the world (Matthew 5:13- 16) and change the world because we live in it as resident aliens.
There is a connection between our rejoicing and those with whom we rejoice.
1) Relating with the lost: Do we laugh with sinners and cry with saints? Paul once said that if one person hurts we hurt with them and if another person is honored, we celebrate with them (I Corinthians 12:26).
2) True Repentance: “True repentance happens when our minds are changed to such a degree that we cannot see a community as a whole until all are included and none are lost”. (David L. Bartlett and Barbara Brown Taylor. eds. Feasting On The Word. Volume 4. Year C. G. Penny Nixon. . “Homiletical Perspective”. Louisville: Westminster: John Knox Press, 2010, p. 73).
3) Always on duty: While we rejoice and celebrate with those who have been found by God, we still need to help others who are lost to find their way back to the flock. Paul said that we have to preach the word in out of season (II Timothy 4:2 NKJV). >>>>>>> Some might say that they are not called to be a preacher like those who stand in pulpits. >>>>>>> However, II Peter 2:9 – 10 reminds us all of our role to be preachers---priests who declare the praises of God who called us out of darkness into God’s wonderful light. >>>>>>> Therefore, our words are just as important as our actions!
4) Imitating God: We rejoice with God about those who have been found by God, but if we are going to be like God (Matthew 5:48), we have to join the search party and seek the lost like God does (Matthew 5:46 -47).
5) Recovering Wretches: All those of us who have been found by God are forgiven and reconciled are recovering wretches.
There is connection between what we preach and what we preach.
1) Credibility: We discredit ourselves when what we preach is disconnected from what we practice. We are called to love God with all of hearts and souls and mind and strength. We are also called to love our neighbors as we love ourselves (Luke 10:27).
2) Integrity: Again, what good is our witness if we don’t practice what we preach? >>>>>> What good is our witness if we only love those who are like us (Matthew 5:46 - 47). >>>>>>> That is the point that Jesus was trying to convey to the Pharisees. The indifference of the elder brother against the prodigal son who came illustrates how the Pharisees often were and also how we sometimes are (Luke 15:11 -32).
3) Snapshots: a) Remember the mother who went to the eagle’s nest to get her child? That story depicts how great God’s love is for every person God ever created. b) Remember the lost church member whom the pastor befriended and encouraged? That story reflects how God wants us to love and nurture the injured in our own flock back to health. c) Remember the story about Rev. Gary Downing who found his way back home when another blew the horn on the boat? That story reflects how God wants us to be “horn blowers” for those who have lost their way to find their way back to the flock. All those of us who have been found by God are forgiven and reconciled are recovering wretches.
In the Name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
