September 30, 2001 Luke 15:8-10
8 “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? 9 And when she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost coin.’ 10 In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”
Have any of you ever seen the traveler’s antique show - where they go on the road and have people get their antiques priced? I have never collected antiques, but I have been collecting sports cards for years. And I can tell you one thing, just because a book says a card is worth a certain price, it doesn’t mean that it is. I’ve come to the realization that a card, an antique, or anything for that matter, is only worth as much as someone will give you for it. It all depends on supply and demand.
In the parable for today, a woman loses a “silver coin.” The literal term for this is a “drachma.” I wanted to try and figure how much this was actually worth - but there were no other instances of it being used in the New Testament. One commentator said it was worth a fraction of a penny. Another 18 or 19 cents. Another said you could buy a portion of a sheep and then in another place said you could buy an ox with one. Then I got to thinking about why there was this discrepancy in the price, and I figured it out, supply and demand. The price of a drachma all depended upon the market at the time. So when asked the question, “how much is a dirty drachma worth?”, the answer is, “it depends”.
How Much is a Dirty Drachma Worth?
The drachma in the parable is representative of humans. It’s rather fitting isn’t it? For there’s a wide variety of opinions as to how much we are worth. And there’s a wide variety of opinions as to what our worth is based on. In our world a guy who can shoot a ball through a hoop is considered worth millions of dollars, but a gal who can bring a child up in a proper manner is only worth minimum wage. In the dating world a gal who has pretty eyes is thought of as a better date then I gal who can cook a good meal. This debate goes on in a spiritual way as well. Robert Schuller and other so-called biblical scholars will claim that we are worth great value because we are made in the image of God. But God’s Word says otherwise. It says in Romans 3: 12, All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one.” We lost the image of God and became worthless. According to God’s Word then, if a drachma represents us as sinners, then I would assume that the drachma is not worth a lot of money in and of itself.
However, this drachma seems to represent more than just your run-of-the-mill sinful human. If you look at the context, the Pharisees and teachers of the law were complaining that Jesus was eating with “sinners”. Who were these “sinners”? If you look at the parables, they would appear to be Jews who had seemingly fallen from the faith. This is a very feasible explanation. For God warns in His Word that you can fall from faith. Paul said Galatians 5:4, that You who are trying to be justified by law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace. Even though Jesus promised that no one can snatch his children out of his hand in John 10, he didn’t say that we couldn’t fall out of his hand. For example, there was a terrorist who had taken refuge in Palestine for years. The United States couldn’t get him by going into Palestine, so instead, they lured him out of the country. Once he left the country they were able to arrest him. That seems to be what happened here. This drachma was worse than a run of the mill sinner - it was a runaway unbeliever fallen from the faith.
Now the woman has a choice. Either she can just leave the drachma behind, or she can go and look for it. It all depends on what her attitude is toward the dirty drachma, “how much is it worth to her?” Several years ago was cleaning out our basement, when I accidentally dropped a box that had an old ceramic Christmas tree in it - you know, and one of those ones that has a light inside of it which then shines through the multicolored bulbs on the tree? I didn’t know how much damage was done to the tree, and I just put it back on the shelf. About seven months later, I found out, the hard way. After my wife unwrapped the tree to display it at Christmas time, she found a big crack right down the middle of the tree. Whereas I thought to myself, “no big deal, it’s just an old tree.” She told me, “this is a family heirloom, it’s been in our family for years.” Even though the tree was worthless to me, it meant a lot to her.
That’s where the special flavor of this parable really comes to light. It’s a woman who has lost the coin, not a rich farmer like in the previous parable. Every coin, even a drachma, is important to her. Especially because it was in her hand, it was her drachma. Whereas most people would say “who cares,” she did care.
Isn’t she a good representative of our merciful Lord? Why would or should he care if just one soul was lost? It’s not just one soul to God. You see, God put a lot of work into that one soul. When He saw the world on its way to hell, with an indescribable love, He decided to do something about it. Instead of saying, “who cares,” and leaving us go, he said to his son, “I want you to go down there and rescue them.” And so Jesus stepped down from his heavenly throne, was born in a dirty filthy manger, and lived in this stinking rotten world for 33 years. And if that weren’t enough, Jesus allowed a bunch of mislead and self-righteous sinners to put his body on a cross, accuse him of being a criminal, and nail him to a tree. Then the Father said to the son, “it’s time for you to go through the ultimate dishonor, to have the sins of the world be poured on you.” And so Jesus allowed the Father to put him through hell. Jesus did that to make us his own children. Therefore, you aren’t just another soul to him. You aren’t a worthless human being to him. He bathed in your sins, to clean your soul. He went through hell, to make you holy. He put a lot of work into you. Therefore, when he either you walk out of his hand, or the devil lures you out of his hand, even though you may be worthless, he still wants you back.
Isn’t that great to know? Even if you are worthless than the eyes of the world, even if you have rebelled and lived a horrible life, and even if you don’t have the greatest looks or the best cooking ability, and even in no one even knows you exist, God still knows you and wants you back in his hand. He wants to hold you, the comfort you, and to take care of you. You mean a lot to God. He put a lot of effort into you and He doesn’t want to lose you.
I. A drachma is worth a lot to God - worthless as it is
When you lose something that means a lot to you, what do you do? When I had moved to Norton at the beginning of my ministry, I had a bank check for over a thousand dollars that I had brought along to deposit. However, when I got to Norton, I couldn’t find this check. This was a lot of money to me. So I checked every book that I had brought, every suitcase, every piece of clothing. And I still couldn’t find it. After a full two days of searching for this thing, finally, I phoned home, and asked my mom, “could you check in the black briefcase I have there?” Lo and behold, it was in there.
Since the woman has lost this precious drachma, what does she do? Does she not light a lamp, sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it? Houses back then didn’t have light switches and carpeted floors - especially the homes of single women. There were dirt floors - with bad lighting - that could only be lit up with a lamp. The only way you could find a lost coin, then, would be to sweep the dirt around and try and find it under the top layer of dirt. So she lit a lamp, and she swept and she searched until finally, at last, she found the coin.
The picture is clear. When a precious soul goes astray, God will not rest back and say, “asta la vista.” He will go and search for that lost child! How does he do it? The woman first of all lighted a lamp. The symbolism is very clear when we look for an interpretation from other Scriptures. John 3 says, Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. God calls this world a kingdom of darkness. Then Jesus said, I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness. So if the woman takes a light and shines it around the world, what is she doing? She is taking Jesus Christ and shining him in the world. How is this done? Through the Word of God - which is called in 2 Peter a light shining in a dark place. And then what does God do? He takes a broom, and he unearths the coin - reveals it.
If you remember the context of this Parable, it really makes sense then. Jesus realized that the only way he could pull people out of the mud, was to get down into the mud and try and get them out. So he went and ate and drank with the well known “sinners” of his time. While he ate and drank with these “dirty drachmas”, he exposed their sins, and showed them the light of salvation. The Pharisees didn’t want to be seen dead with these terrible “sinners.” But Jesus, in love, reached out and did his best to bring these lost sinners back home to him.. What better example could there be than the example of Saul? Here he was, surrounded by Pharisees - his heart was evilly mislead - seeking the death of Christians. In the blackest darkness, Saul was on his way to Damascus - going further and further in the dirt of this sinful world. That was when God swept away his theology, swept aside his self righteousness, and exposed his religion to be false. With the simple words, “Saul, why do you persecute me,” and the light from heaven, God picked up this dirty drachma, brushed it off, and put it back in his hand.
Do you know any “dirty drachmas?” Chances are, you do. It may be your son, your sister, or your co-worker. These would be people who were at one time good Christians, who have fallen away from the faith. The thing is, that you can usually tell when someone is going astray - because you don’t hear from them as often. Communication will break down. You won’t see them in church. Why? Because darkness doesn’t like to be exposed. It likes to stay in the dark. At first you’ll say to yourself, “I wonder if something’s wrong. But I don’t want to be nosy.” Then, you may get up the nerve to call, come to find out something is wrong - they’re getting divorced, or they are quitting their job, or they have been drinking too much, etc. Some will reason at that point, “I don’t know what to do. I don’t want to preach at them. They know better. I don’t want to totally turn them off to church.” And so they wait. And what happens? After another month or two, nothing gets better. Then they might reason, “I’m sure God will work it out for good.” Compare that to the parable. That’s like burying a penny with the thought that it will be worth more in twenty years - that it will sometimes inflate in worthiness. It doesn’t work that way.
At that point you have a choice. You have to ask yourself, “how much does their soul mean to me? How badly do I want to see them back in God’s hands?” When the World Trade Center was bombed two weeks ago, I couldn’t fall asleep. As I laid in bed, I couldn’t help think to myself, “what if I was caught under that mass of cement?” Imagine if one of your loved ones was caught in that mass of rubble, and was dying, needing you to rescue him or her. What would you do? You know what you would do. You would make every effort to try and move that mass of garbage. As long as there was hope - you would keep on searching until you were sure your loved one was dead, or every stone was unturned. How is it any different when we see Christians going astray from God’s Word every day? You’ve got to go after them. Is it loving to assume that they’ll just wonder back into God’s hand? It won’t happen without God’s Word. Isn’t it more loving to use God’s Word - to put our friendship on the line - and try and bring them back? Are you willing to risk a friendship? A job? A child? A spouse? How important is their soul to you? How much is a dirty drachma worth to you?
II. A drachma is worth searching after
When several firefighters were found under the rubble at the World Trade Center, people rejoiced at the fact that were saved. Once I found where my missing check was, I rejoiced! And what is the result of the saving of a soul? Look back at the parable. And when she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost coin.’ 10 In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”
This passage takes the shade off of a window to another world. Not only does God rejoice, but so do His angels. In the book of Daniel it describes a war that was going on behind the scenes. The children of Israel had been deported to Babylon - Daniel included. They were supposed to start being deported back to the Promised Land. But the devil had sent an evil demon to influence the Persian government, so that it wouldn’t allow the remnant to return to Israel. So the Archangel Michael and Jesus fought together against the demons in Persia and Greece to make it possible for the remnant to return. This shows us that the angels play an integral part in keeping us from danger. They care for us not only physically, but also spiritually. Therefore, when one of God’s children has fallen from faith - it troubles the angels greatly. Often times we think of angels just keeping us from tripping and protecting us physically. But they are more concerned with our SPIRITUAL welfare than our physical.
Therefore, when a believer who has fallen from the faith comes back, there is much rejoicing even over ONE sinner who is brought to repentance. They realize the eternal stakes. When one unbeliever is brought back to the faith, they are saved from an ETERNITY of suffering and hell. And so they rejoice! Think about then, what a wonderful thing it is when a child is baptized - has the forgiveness of Christ and the Holy Spirit poured on him or her! Think about what a wonderful thing it is when someone comes back to worship after a long hiatus. Think about how wonderful it is when someone starts a new Bible Information Class and joins our church. This isn’t just another number on the books. We’re talking about life and death - eternal matters! What a reason for rejoicing! Another dirty drachma has been cleaned and placed in God’s hands.
III. A dirty drachma is worth rejoicing over
How much is a dirty drachma worth? Over the years I have been able to put some money away in different mutual funds. Last year at this time, they were doing great - they were glittering like gold! But now, they are doing terrible - they stink. The value of my investments - my drachmas - all depends on supply and demand. That’s not the way God values a drachma. No matter what you think about yourself, no matter what everyone thinks of your neighbors or friends, and no matter anybody else thinks about you - as long as you have a soul - you are worth something to God! How much is a dirty drachma worth? To God - a dirty drachma is worth more than his son’s own life! A dirty drachma is worth going through hell for! A dirty drachma is worth lighting a light and sweeping a house for. A dirty drachma - worthless as it is - is worth cleaning up and putting in His hand. A dirty drachma is worth rejoicing over when found. That’s how God and his angels look at a dirty drachma. How about you? Amen.
