In Jesus Holy Name September 14,2025
Text: Luke 15:1-6 Redeemer
“The Heart of God Seeks the Lost”
24 years ago we watched sores of tiny figures moving up and down the rubble, of the Twin Towers, back and forth. It’s hard to see the ground beneath them. They came from all over America. Like an army of ants, they worked and worked and worked as if they could never stop. A slab here, a steel girder there, cranes moving mountains of concrete. All their labors with one purpose driving them, searching, searching, searching. They were searching for the lost.
Last week I was watching 60 minutes. They interviewed several forensic scientist from New York city. For 24 years they have been using DNA to identify bone fragments of victims from the 9/11 attack. They have over 22,000 fragments of victims of which they have identified 1635. Earlier this year a police officer visited the home of a widow and informed her that they had discovered bone fragments of her husband based on DNA samples taken from the cheek of her infant son. She was surprised that this search for identification was still going on after 24 years.
Over 22,000 Fragments of 9/11 remains of victims are primarily stored and cataloged in a specialized repository managed by the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner (OCME) of the City of New York. The search to identify victims is ongoing. The search has never stopped.
In today’s bible passage, we read about a God who is on a never-ending search for the lost and missing. God is like a shepherd looking for a lost sheep, a woman searching for a lost coin, It is God’s desire that everyone hear the Gospel, to know their sins are forgiven by the cross of Jesus and they can be assured of eternal life by placing their faith in Jesus and His resurrection. God invites us to rejoice – “rejoice with me, for what was lost has been found”. Gregory Dawson, Luke 15:1-15.
When Jesus visited the home of Zacchaeus in Jericho, Luke records Jesus said: “For the Son of man came to seek and save the lost.” That was his mission. That was his purpose.
When Adam & Eve were lost, God came looking. God came searching. He found them hiding and afraid. In both the O.T. and N.T. we encounter a God who is on a mission to seek the lost and redeem His people. The central act of God in the O.T. is the Exodus, a divine intervention into human history to free His people from slavery. The decisive act of God in the N.T is the divine intervention of God into human history at Bethlehem to free us from slavery and sin and the fear of eternal death I hell . The Present Future, Reggie McNeal, p. 13
Hebrews 2:1-14 He became one of us …”Since we have flesh and blood, he too shared in our humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death, that is the devil, and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death.”
The Hebrew slaves were destined for the Promised Land, a land flowing with milk and honey. Jesus promises his followers the abundant life. He invites us to “cast our burdens upon him.” He invites us to pray for his intervention into our personal history.
Jesus said “I tell you the truth, my Father will give you whatever you ask in my name … Ask and you will receive so that your joy may be complete”. John 16:23-24
God was always at work to save his people. One time he sent a little shepherd boy with a few stones and a sling shot to whip a Philistine giant. After the resurrection of Jesus, God sent the Holy Spirit, the promised comforter, Counselor, to serve as the continuing presence of God in the lives of His people. “Much like the pillar of fire and cloud by day given to the ancient wilderness – wanderers in the Exodus to guide them, so the Spirit of God guides the people of God, the followers of Jesus as the move from Jerusalem, to Jude, Samaria, Fresno & Beyond.
God has a purpose for His people. When Moses encountered God in the burning bush, He soon found himself on the way to Egypt. When Moses and the children of Israel reached Mt. Sinai, God again invited Moses to come up onto the mountain. Listen to the words God spoke to Moses – revealing his heart for people.
Read: Exodus 19:3-6 Then Moses went up to God, and the LORD called to him from the mountain and said, “This is what you are to say to the descendants of Jacob and what you are to tell the people of Israel: 4 ‘You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt, and how I carried you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. 5 Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine, 6 you[a] will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words you are to speak to the Israelites.”
God rescued his people so they could be his partners. They were chosen to be the “priest of God” representing him to the whole earth.
Listen to the words of I Peter 1:3-5 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, 5 who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.……… and promise.
I Peter 2:9-12 9 But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.
Yes, we live in the post modern world, a world filled with people who are insecure about their eternal destiny. We are surrounded by people who have been told “there are no absolutes.” They are lost. Last year I shared with you an experience that Chuck Huggins had with a gentleman who he had hired to clean their windows. The man said that he had grown up with parents who were atheist. He did not consider himself an atheist, but one who believed that there was a God. He noted that he was seeking spiritual truth but didn’t know where to go. He was looking for someone to tell him more. The children of Israel were to tell the whole world about God and convince the world of his love for them. The disciples were sent out, empowered by the Spirit to proclaim God’s intervention at Bethlehem, His resurrection from the stone walls of death. The Present Future, Reggie McNeal, p. 15
The salvation of God has come to us so we can pass it on to others. “The church was created to be the people of God to join Him in His redemptive mission.” to seek and save the lost. The church was not created to serve itself. The Church is the Bride of Christ, designed for reproduction, accepting the people whom God brings to our doorsteps.
Folks! What is our mission statement Our mission is to “connect our unchurched friends to Jesus”.
You have the opportunity to share Jesus right here. Two entry point events are planned for September 13th a women’s lunch. Also the upcoming Octoberfest dinner – a great event that enables your unchurched friends to connect with those of us who know Jesus.
Only 49% of adults in America belong to a Christian Church. Today, 149 million “unchurched” Americans await an invitation to know more about Jesus and His secure offer of eternal life.
In this 15th chapter of Luke, there three parables, The lost sheep, he lost coin, and he Lost Son. All are well known. Jesus told these parables in response to criticism from the Pharisees. The Pharisees truly believed that a person could be saved and earn God’s love by keeping the commandments. “The Jewish rule book was quite clear about Jewish religious behavior. Rabbis do not eat with people of the land who do not keep Jewish law. This was the problem with Jesus. He ate with sinners. “Judaism had developed a system of legalism which made religion into a matter of keeping a balance sheet, a statement of debits and credits in our dealings with a righteous God. Rabbinical Judaism declared that every act of charity, almsgiving and piety had credit value and if your good deeds outweighed your bad deeds you would be acquitted on judgment day. If a person tried hard, but didn’t have enough good merits he or she could draw upon a credit amount of merit stored up by Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and others.” This was part of the false theology in the 1500’s when the church taught that people could store their good works or draw on the merits of previous saints.
We still know people who think the same thing in our American culture. Many believe that If a man’s man righteous deeds out-weighed his/her transgressions. God will balance the scale. That is not what God tells us in the bible. Only the merit of Jesus on the cross can bring peace to the human soul. .
. People Then and now were and are hungry for a relationship with God. That is why they flocked to the words of Jesus for He spoke of God’s love, God’s grace for sinners.
In response to that false theology, the false understanding of God, Jesus tells 3 parables. He begins by saying; “If you were a shepherd and had a hundred sheep, but you came home at night and counted them and discovered that you only had 99, what would you do? Let me tell you what you would do. You would go out and search for that lost sheep. You would search the rocks and ledges until you found it. And when you found it you would put it on your shoulders and come home rejoicing.
Right now, in America, there is a spiritual hunger. Left to their own imagination people will devise all sorts of crazy stuff about God, from New Age crystals to seekers of knowledge and self-enlightenment.
The church, and each of us, should adopt the role of the rescue workers on the surface at ground zero. They refused to quit, worked 24/7, and were willing to go to Plan B or whatever it took to effect a rescue. The search to identify the missing is never ending. God is calling us listen for the voices of those calling out of the darkness, seek the lost and rejoice when the lost are found.
