God’s Love for the Lost
Luke 15:1-32
Pastor Jefferson M. Williams
Chenoa Baptist Church
01-07-2024
I Lost My Keys Again
Have you ever lost something? I am better at it than most. I have lost coats, gloves, watches, sunglasses, my place in a song, and my heart to a girl named Maxine.
One time when I was in high school and the editor of the school newspaper, I lost the entire completed ready to go to print copy of the week’s edition!
But out of all the things I’ve lost, my mind is the thing I miss the most.
I lived in Memphis for twenty-one years and still get lost when visiting. When I was younger I lost my keys so much that my mother bought me a device that would beep when you clapped near it. I lost that too.
But now we have Apple AirTags! Just this week, I couldn’t find my wallet and I used my phone to find it!
Losing something is the most frustrating thing, especially if it is valuable. The search can be intense and involve all of our resources.
Have you ever thought about what God thinks about lost things? Does He care? This morning we will hear from God’s Word about God’s heart toward lost sheep, lost coin, and lost sons.
Turn with me to Luke Chapter 15 as I explain the context.
Prayer.
Text within the Context
Verse 1 starts:
“Now the tax collectors and “sinners” were all gathering around to hear him.”
Jesus was doing what he did best eating lunch and explaining the things of God. He was teaching the people He loved best the outcasts. Jesus hung out with dishonest businessmen, crooked politicians, and brazen prostitutes who could have cared less about the religious rules of the day.
This verse specifically identifies the “tax collectors.” These were Jews who had turned against their own country and collected taxes for the Roman government that occupied Palestine. They extorted money from their fellow countrymen and got rich doing so. For this, they paid a heavy price. Tax collectors were excluded from the religious community and shunned by most respectable Jews.
Tax collecting was treasonous and deserving of death. But in Jesus, they found a friend. Jesus had chosen a tax collector whom He renamed Matthew to be part of His mentoring group of disciples.
These men, along with the dregs of Jewish society, were drawn to hear Jesus speak. Jesus went further than just teaching them, He ate with them. To associate with these people was bad enough, but to eat with them was outrageous!
The original meaning of our word “companion” means “with bread.” To eat with someone was a sign of your friendship with that person. Jesus drove the religious leaders crazy!
But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.”
Now before we are too hard on these guys, remember that they were the “good” guys. They championed the Word of God. They were interested in holiness and many had a sincere desire for pleasing God. There was just one problem. They had forgotten that lost people matter to God. They were looking for a Messiah to conquer Rome not One who could conquer lost hearts.
Can you hear them, “ You know he calls himself a rabbi and some say he is the Messiah. Doesn’t he know who he is sharing bread with? Doesn’t he know that God hates sinners?” They were grumbling and muttering and they were wrong.
Or at least, part wrong. God hates sin because it separates us from Him but he loves sinners enough to give His Son for them. The teachers needed teaching and Jesus tells three parables to drive home His point.
He doesn’t give a lecture or a sermon but tells a story of a lost sheep, lost silver, and a lost son.
A Lost Sheep
Then Jesus told them this parable:
“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? And when he finds it he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, “Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.” I tell you that in the same way, there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.”
Jesus starts his stories with a parable that both the outcasts around him as well as the religious rulers can understand. There were undoubtedly shepherds in the crowd and tending sheep was a big business in Palestine in Jesus’ day.
Sheep provided people with meat, milk, fat, wool, and skins. One hundred sheep were an average size herd and shepherds tended flocks together in the open country. The shepherds would count them nightly and get to know each one of them individually.
Sheep need constant supervision because…well…they are intellectually challenged. The fact is they’re not too bright. Sheep can wander off easily and do not have a good sense of danger.
The shepherd pursues the sheep “until he finds it.” His heart is intensely involved because of his love for the lost sheep. When he finds it, he doesn’t beat it or berate it. As is the custom, he puts it on his shoulders and carries it home.
He then throws a party and invites all his friends. Jesus says this is a great word picture of Heaven. When one lost person recognizes his sinfulness and repents, which means to turn around, and surrenders his life to God through Christ there is a party thrown by the Father Himself.
The “ninety-nine who do not need to repent” is an obvious description of the Pharisees and the scribes who believed themselves more “righteous” than such dumb sheep that Jesus attracted. Isn’t it interesting that the very experts in the Law did not immediately recognize that Jesus was making a point that many had made before Him?
“ I have strayed like a lost sheep. Seek your servant, for I have not forgotten your commands.” (Psalm 119:176)
“ We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us turned to his own way.” (Isaiah 53:6)
·
“ I myself will tend my sheep and have them lie down…I will search for the lost and bring back the strays.” (Ezek 34:15)
The Pharisees had heard Jesus refer to humans as sheep many times. They had heard Him say that He is the good shepherd who lays down His life for the sheep to save them from the wolf (see John 10:15) . The only problem was they did not consider themselves in need of being saved.
Jim Cymbala, pastor of Brooklyn Tabernacle in New York says,
“ Pride has a devilish quality that keeps us from sensing the need for God’s grace in our lives.”
So Jesus tells another story.
The Lost Silver
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? And when she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbors together and says “Rejoice with me; I have found my lost coin.” In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.
This is a story about not only a woman but a poor woman! The Pharisees would not have cared less about a poor woman losing her life savings but Jesus is now connecting with the outcasts who are sitting at his feet.
The coin she lost would have been worth one day’s wages. The coin probably came from her dowry that she would wear on a chain around her neck or her head.
It was like a savings account necklace and was as important as a wedding ring. Even if she went into debt these coins could not be taken from her. This poor woman’s house most likely did not have windows and had a dirt floor or rough cobblestones. So she lit a lamp and swept until she heard the cha-ching of the coin. Just like the shepherd she searches “until she finds it” and then throws a party.
Jesus says that when one sinner repents the angels rejoice. Imagine ten million angels exploding into uncontained applause when one person recognizes their lostness and surrenders their life to the Father.
Jesus has been building up to the last story. He told the story of one sheep out of one hundred to show the importance of every person. He followed up the story with a parable of one coin out of ten to show the value of human beings. Now he tells what is considered one of the greatest stories of the Bible.
The Lost Son
Jesus continued:
“There was a man who had two sons. The younger one said to his father, “Father give me my share of the estate.” So he divided the property between them. Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had…
· The Son severed ties with his family
The story begins by immediately drawing all the listeners that were fathers.
There are two sons and the younger one demands his share of the estate.
The Message translation puts it this way, “ I want right now what is coming to me.” You can hear the anger in his demands. It was as if he were saying, “Dad, you old fool. You are as good as dead to me. Cash it all in Pops and give me my share. I’m going to blow this one horse town and live it up!”
The Pharisees would have audibly moaned when Jesus reported that the Father honored his demand. For this insolence, the son should have been taken before the elders and stoned outside the city gate [Duet. 21:18-21]
Instead, the father calls his accountant and spends considerable time converting his estate into cash. This would have involved selling off land and livestock. The younger brother would have received one-third according to Levitical law [Duet. 21:17]. with the older brother getting two-thirds. He then “got together all he had.”
He had no plans of returning. He was done with his family and he did not look back as he walked away from the house.
· “and he set off for a distant country”
For a young Jewish male to leave his home and travel to another country would not have been uncommon due to the transient nature of the Jewish population at that time. But the original language seems to imply he went as far away as he could.
A prophet named Jonah tried this and ended up with a whale of testimony about how far God will search for you. He was running away from all the restraints of home. In a distant land, he could be anonymous and could do whatever he wanted.
· “and squandered his wealth in wild living”
Unrestrained, the young man indulged himself in every kind of sensual escapade. He lived on the wild side. He lived extravagantly and recklessly. He wasted his dad’s money with no thought of the future.
We see examples of athletes who are making millions of dollars a year and end up broke. Sin will take you farther than you ever wanted to go and, in the end, leave you not only financially devastated but also emotionally and spiritually bankrupt.
· The shame of the pigpen
“After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in the whole country, and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. He longed to fill his stomach with the pods the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything.”
Famines were fairly common during this time but this one affected the entire country. So the playboy becomes the pig boy. The Jews considered pigs unclean animals and they were not permitted to touch them or eat them, let alone have lunch with them. It is very difficult to convey the amount of shame this would have brought on the young man.
A common proverb of that time states “Cursed is the man who tends swine.” He had been eating caviar, now he just wanted to eat the carob pods left over from the pig slop.
· When he came to his senses
“When he came to his senses, he said, “ How many of my father’s hired men have food to spare, and here I am starving to death!”
Sitting in a pigpen hundreds of miles away from home, something began to happen inside of him. He began to realize his foolishness. A small inkling of understanding began to form in his mind of how much he must have hurt his father.
My dad called these times in our lives “significant emotional experiences.” It was a divine reality check. It was a wake-up call of cosmic proportions.
John Newton knew this feeling well. After deserting the Royal Navy, he became a pirate and assisted in the trafficking of slaves. When he was miraculously converted to Christianity, he wrote his life story in a song. The first verse reads: “Amazing grace/how sweet the sound/that saved a wretch like me/I once was lost but now I’m found/was blind but now I see.”
· He prepared his speech
“I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: “ Father I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired men.” So he got up and went to his father.”
His sincerity is obvious. He honestly admits his wrongdoing. He left on his terms but would return humbled. Hunger and humiliation led to homesickness. Though tired and weak, he starts the long road home to his father’s house, rehearsing his speech every step of the way.
· He was received as a son
But while he was still a long way off his father saw him and filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him. The son said “Father I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to called one of your sons.” But the father said to his servants, “Quick, get the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Bring the fattened calf and kill it. For this son of mine was dead; he was lost and is found. So they begin to celebrate.
At this, the Pharisees would have torn their clothes. They expected the story to end with the young whipper-snapper sitting in the pigpen getting what he deserved. That is called justice. What they heard instead was a symphony of grace.
This father had been looking for him. He was peering up over the horizon every day and leaving a light on at night. The wise dad knew he had to honor his son’s demands because only God could flatten his foolishness. Only God could pulverize the pride of a young arrogant heart. Only God could make the son hungry not only for his father’s food but for the father himself.
The father ran. “Very uncouth”, the Pharisees would have whispered. Older men in the Near East still do not run. But this father did. He interrupted his son’s speech because it was unnecessary. He showered the son with kisses of forgiveness.
He called for the best robe, which would have probably been his own. The robe represents the wealth of the family being restored. The ring is the authority of the father. Sandals were worn by sons, but not by slaves. The fattened calf represents the celebration of the father’s heart. People of that culture rarely ate meat. The calf was being fattened in anticipation of a celebration. The father knew his boy would come home. The calf would have been enough to feed the whole village
The son had come home. The relationship had been restored. It was party time!
The sinners surrounding Jesus would have had tears in their eyes when it occurred to them that they could come home as well. But Jesus is not finished with the story.
Lost Opportunities
Meanwhile the older brother was in the field. When he came to the house, he heard music and dancing. So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on. “Your brother has come”, he replied, “and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has back safe and sound.”
The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him.
But he answered his father.
“All these years I have been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours who squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!”
Instead of celebrating the return of his brother, he immediately starts a pity party for himself!
· He becomes angry. He loses his cool. He blows his top. This is the ultimate indignation. His brother returns home looking terrible and smelling like a pig and he gets a party?! “I’m not going in there!” he snorts. The self-righteous smugness of the older brother not only mirrors the Pharisees but also many in our culture today.
Christians are angry with people who sin. Just remember cows don’t lay eggs. Sinners sin because they are sinners. It is their nature. One of my favorite Brian Bill-isms is that we often do not like people who sin differently than we do.
This lost dying world will know we are Christians by our radical, unconditional love for lost people!
· He has an attitude toward his father. I’ve been slaving for you. You never let me have a party with my friends. This is the attitude of legalism. I have done for you and what do I get for it? It is an attitude of pride.
I once sat in a different place at a church Maxine and I attended. We had invited someone who does not feel comfortable sitting up front so we looked for a place in the back. I sat down and soon found myself being given the evil eye by the couple sitting beside me. I explained to them that there would be another couple joining me. It was Easter after all and the church of 7000 was packed. They moved over but sighed loudly. When it came time to shake people’s hands the man turned his back to me. His wife said loudly to a neighbor that I had “taken their seats.”
I wrote the man a letter during service, which attempted to apologize but challenged his view of the church, but he would not accept it. He ran away from me. I am embarrassed to say that I chased him down the aisle, out the door, and down the steps and shoved the note in his coat pocket. He would probably tell you that he was a good religious person and was in church every Sunday. But his attitude betrayed his heart “my seats are more important than your soul.”
· He revealed his spiritual apathy
The Pharisees could not imagine God being this gracious. There are two prodigals in the story. The younger brother abandoned his father physically. The older abandoned him in the heart. He was there the whole time, working and serving, but his heart was far from the father.
All the sins of the younger brother could not keep him out of heaven due to his repentance. All the virtues of the older brother couldn’t get him into heaven because of his pride. He was just as lost as his brother but was too self-righteous to admit it.
Just like the older brother, we will miss out on opportunities to celebrate God’s work in people’s lives if we do not focus on the heart of the matter:
Lost people matter to God so they should matter to us as well.
The story is more about the Father’s heart than it is about the prodigal son.
Listen as he answers the older brother.
He is gentle: “My son”, the father said,
“You are always with me and everything I have is yours. But we had to celebrate and be glad because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.”
He endures the son’s temper tantrum and explains his motives. Although the older brother does not properly address him as “Sir”, he still treats him tenderly and gently by calling him “My son.”
He is graceful: The father goes out to meet the brother and he pleads with him to join the celebration. He accepts him “you are my son…all I have is yours.” He offers him grace and forgiveness.
The story ends with the dad and older brother standing outside the house staring at each other and the younger brother basking in the celebration.
The story also ends with the sinners and tax collectors understanding the passion of God’s heart toward lost people. The Pharisees walked away from the crowd, shaking their heads, and following their rules.
Why did I choose to preach this passage?
You are the Kid
Let me share two snapshots of my life.
Easter Sunday morning, 1980. Wooddale Church of Christ. I was 12 years old, uncomfortable in my Easter dress clothes, sitting with a couple of friends in the back of the auditorium.
At the end of the message, we sang the hymn, “Just as I Am,” for what seemed like an hour. He kept stopping and saying,
“I know there is somewhere here today that needs to be saved.” I didn’t even know what saved meant. But I knew it would make my mom and dad happy. So I slipped up my hand.
He saw me and locked eyes with me. Pray this prayer. So I repeated a prayer that I didn’t understand word for word. Then I walked down the aisle, signed a card, and in that church, they baptized me right then and there. They gave me a little King James Bible and then he introduced me to the congregation.
Hey, what’s your name, kid? I whispered, “Jeff.” He then introduced me with great fanfare as a brand-new Christian and everyone clapped.
There was just one problem. I had no idea what had just happened. I got saved. But I didn’t know what I was getting saved from or what happened to make me need saving in the first place. I was no more a Christian than I would be an NBA basketball player.
But because of jumping through this religious hoop, I would have told you I was a Christian.
Fast forward 7 years and I’m 21 years old graduating from college. I was on my way to play tennis with a friend and stopped for gas at a station near campus. I walked up to the counter and it took a minute to figure out was going on. I had walked into an armed robbery in progress. He pointed the gun at me and told me to get against the wall.
That night, I was in bed still shaking. My brother opened the door and asked if he had pulled the trigger where I would be right now. In that moment, I knew I had been a inch from hell.
There months later…
On December 30, 1990, I attended a church retreat in Moscow, TN, This was pretty novel for me due to the fact I prided myself in being too smart to believe in God.
But my life was empty, I was homeless living with two friends on their floor, addicted to porn, and the hopelessness that was taking over my soul was leading me to contemplate suicide.
The guys at the retreat were cliquish and the girls were a little on the goody-two-shoes side for me.
But the speaker taught the story of the prodigal son and explained how to come home to God. I remember walking around the lake trying to understand the Father’s heart. The story didn’t make sense to me.
I returned home on New Year’s Eve afternoon and attended my girlfriend’s party that night. She met me at the door drunk and her mother was upstairs smoking marijuana with our friends.
This was my life. I sat on the couch and something began to happen inside of me.
It is very difficult to explain it.
Why was the Father standing on tip-toe waiting for the kid to come home?
It was as if everything slowed down and this one thought completely overwhelmed me “Jeff Williams, you are that kid and this is your pigpen.”.
My life was a pigpen. God had given me so many opportunities and I had run off in the far country of sin and squandered them all.
I sat hungry for meaning and purpose but continually ate the pods of this world - lust, power, greed, and pride. God convicted me of my sin and prompted me to repentance.
I came to my senses that night.
In the middle of a party on New Year’s Eve 1990, I became I Christ-Follower in the middle of my hopelessness and shame. That was thirty-three years ago this week and my life has never been the same. And now I stand before you and tell you the story.
Communion
· Some of you need to come home. You have been off in the far country. Sin felt good for a season but now you look at your life and wonder “How did I get here?”
Sin is a slippery slope and you are in the pigpen. Let me tell you this morning that the Father is longing for you. He is peering over the horizon for you. He desires no one to be lost but everyone comes to salvation.
Come home. He will welcome you back. He will fill you with purpose and passion. He will satisfy the thirst and hunger you have for security and significance. Stop looking for it in humans. Come home.
Many people will say that they will get right with God when they “clean up their act.” Forget all that. Come home and let God clean you up from the inside out. Instead of New Year's resolutions to do better and to be better, just come home.
Jesus said,
“I have come to seek and save that which was lost.” [John 19:10]
The ultimate expression of His love for you was demonstrated on the cross:
“But God demonstrated his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” [Romans 5:8]
Prayer
Coming to your senses involves repentance:
Admitting you are a sinner and that no amount of rule-keeping or good deeds will ever get you in good with a Holy God:
“For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Rom 3:23)
(2) Believing that Jesus died on the cross in your place so you would not be held hostage by your sins:
“If you confess with your mouth ‘Jesus is Lord’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” (Rom 10:9)
(3) Confessing that you are a sinner and that you are hungry for a relationship with God:
“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us all our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” (I John 1:9)
(4) Surrender your heart to Him today:
Today is the only day you have. “Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your heart.” [Hebrews 3:15]
