INTRODUCTION
Opening Statement: How many of you chronically lose or misplace things? You never notice that something is lost until you need it and it’s always in the last place you look. Have you ever noticed the intensity with which you will search for an inanimate object when you need it? Your wallet, your purse, your keys, a document, an address, a phone number, a pair of socks or earrings. When you need it, you need it now and if time is running out, finding that thing is the highest priority in your life at that moment.
Believe it or not, God knows what all of this feels like on a much grander scale. God is searching for something—but not because he can’t remember where he left it. He knows where it is. He’s searching for you. But the only way that He can find you and bring you home is for you to recognize that you need found, that you are lost and need direction.
Background: In Luke 15, Luke gives a series of three parables in response to the criticism of the scribes and Pharisees that Jesus received unbelieving sinners and even ate with them. Evidently, His love and vulnerability attracted lost people from all classes and lifestyles. These were people who had no regard for the Torah or for religious traditions. Jesus had made it clear that He came to save people like this, not self-righteous people (Luke 5:27-32; 14:21-24). Seeing the many needy people around Him who were lost and recognizing the criticism coming from the religious establishment who were also lost, Jesus told three “Parables of Lostness.” He talked about lost sheep who needed a shepherd; about a lost coin that had value and needed to be put into circulation; about lost sons who needed to be in fellowship with the Father.
Transition: Today, our focus is on the second of these stories – a lost coin that had value and needed to be put into circulation again.
Title: Lost…At Home
Recitation: Luke 15:8 “Or what woman, if she has ten silver coins and loses one of them, does not light a lamp, sweep the house, and search thoroughly until she finds it? 15:9 Then when she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I had lost.’ 15:10 In the same way, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of God’s angels over one sinner who repents.”
Key Word: There are three very revealing MOVEMENTS in this little story.
OUTLINE
The first movement is the circumstance of the lost coin.
Observation: There are two possible reasons that have been suggested as to why this coin had such great value to this woman.
First, it may have been a matter of sheer necessity. It represented about a day’s wage. Without this drachma, her family may have gone hungry. Besides, who would want to work all day, only to find that they had lost their money when they got home?
Second, the lost coin was far more valuable to the owner from a sentimental standpoint than it actually was in value and purchasing power. We learn from those who have studied the customs of ancient days that this could have been a part of her wedding day attire. When a woman married she took ten silver coins and sewed them into a headdress, which she wore on her wedding day. The modern day equivalent might be a woman’s wedding band with studded diamonds. The sentimental value would have been far greater.
If you came into our house, you would see several pictures of our children on the walls and in albums — pictures worth only a few cents in terms of their physical value, but priceless to me because they preserve the expressions and the memories and the stages of life at which my children will never be again. The paper and frame are only worth a few cents, but the image is priceless.
Imagine having a wedding band with 10 studded diamonds. And at the end of the day, you take it off before going to bed and you notice that one of the ten is missing. The comfort of having the 9 does very little for you. You won’t be able to sleep that night because one diamond is missing and the set is now incomplete without it.
So whatever the underlying reasons are for the coins incredible value, it was lost.
Amplification: Something of great financial and emotional value was lost. But do not miss the fact that it was lost in a most unusual place; it was lost at home. The story of the lost sheep tells us that the sheep had wandered away from the safety of home and the fold and the shepherd had to leave the ninety and nine to go out and find it. However, the value of this illustration is that the coin was lost at home where you would not expect to find lost things. This coin did not wander off. It was in the place of apparent safety. Nevertheless it was lost -- probably through carelessness or inattentiveness of the owner. Regardless of the reasons, the woman is unaware that the coin is lost until suddenly she discovers that it is gone. When she realizes that the coin is missing she is stirred to a flurry of activity to recover it because it is of extreme value to her.
If we look at this story and the other two in the broader context of what Jesus was addressing, we see the point He’s making here. He was bringing people of all lifestyles back to God, i.e., your prostitutes, the immoral, the demon-possessed, your wealthy tax-collectors, your alcoholics, and many who were simply disenchanted with religion who had strayed away. The marginalized in society were finding a place at God’s banquet table because the Savior was finding them and setting them free through forgiveness (this is one of Luke’s themes). But, the religious establishment had a problem with that. Jesus was making friends with all of these unbelievers and they were being brought back to God, but the religious leaders didn’t like it.
Jesus’ point: They of all people should have been rejoicing with the Savior! The disenchanted wanderers are finding home again. Rejoice! Instead, they griped and complained. They were sheep that had never left the fold, but their heart was far from the shepherd. They were like a lost coin, still at home, but nevertheless lost and out of spiritual circulation.
Application: It forces upon us the question, "Do I have something lost at home, something out of spiritual circulation?" Perhaps better, "Is someone lost at home or in my extended family?" Our Lord is not that concerned about a lost coin, but is illustrating the value of lost persons. Is someone lost in your home through inattentiveness and neglect? Is someone lost in your home -- a child, perhaps, that you have taken for granted is a Christian, but, as he or she grows up, something makes you realize that he or she is not? You may wake up to realize that these whom you have taken for granted to be safe and sound in your home are not; they are lost. Being lost in this trilogy of parables means being away from safety and in a place of danger; it means being uninformed about a better way to live; it means not serving God for all the wrong reasons. "Lost" is being where you’re not supposed to be. "Lost" does not really know where you belong, or how to get there. "Lost" is having no valid point of reference outside of "self." “Lost” is waking up one day and realizing that among your most valuable treasures on earth, among your family members, there is one who is lost and out of spiritual circulation.
Implication: It’s one thing to have a family member to wander off from the fold on his or her own free-will. We can’t stop a child from doing that if that is what they choose to do. In this case, we pray that the Good Shepherd will hem them in, snatch them up, and bring them home. It is not my intent to question the love and care of parents who though they have loved their children, their children simply have not loved them or the Savior back. However, this is not the focus of this parable. The focus of this parable is that through apparent neglect and inattentiveness, something very valuable was lost at home. There are millions like this today in Christian homes. We have raised them in our Christian homes. We have brought them to church. But, as they grew up, we never attended their ball games. We never pursued a question about God that they asked during the day. We were inattentive when all they wanted was just a little bit of our time to tell us a story. We never held them close and prayed out loud for the Father’s hand over their lives. We never let them see the importance of the spiritual dimension of life. We never cultivated the importance of becoming a student of their personalities and ways. Consequently, they are lost -- and they are lost at home.
Transition: Now, if you’re feeling pretty hopeless, stay with me…
The second movement of our story takes us immediately into the efforts of this woman to find what was lost.
Explanation: She launched upon a remarkable campaign. When she realized that this valuable coin was lost, she went into action. Her activity in this story reveals the heart concern of God for people who are lost like this. God’s heart moves out to them.
Observations: This woman did three things, which are extremely important. What I love about his flurry of activity is that it pictures God at work to reclaim the lost. Salvation is about God finding us. The religions of the world are about man finding God through his own efforts.
First, she lit a lamp. Lighting a lamp would illuminate the darkened corners where the coin may have fallen. Typically, middle-eastern homes in this era were dark, having only one window.
Second, this woman swept the house. In those days it was customary to spread straw on the floor. Usually the floors were earthen and, in order to have something soft underfoot, straw was spread. A coin falling down in it would naturally be difficult to find. So the woman took a broom and swept up all the straw and thus made it much more possible to find it.
The third thing this woman did was to search diligently. She lit a lamp; she swept the house; and she searched diligently. She thought about ways of finding this coin. She gave herself to this task. She did not just look around a little in her spare time; she stopped everything and she swept the house out. Foot by foot she went over the floor, searching for this lost coin -- it was that valuable to her. We cannot fall short of such effort when seeking the lost at home.
Application: To reach those lost at home, we must light a lamp by living according to Jesus and His teachings. We must sweep the house and empty it of stuff that allows the enemy a foothold in our families. We must begin to search for them diligently. If you have a child that is lost, stop everything you’re doing that is not necessary to do and take the time to know and to love your children until they open up, until a response is obtained, until there are communication channels open, and it is thus possible to reach and to find that which was lost. Expend all energy. Hold nothing back. Pray and fast. Laugh with them and love them. They must be placed back into spiritual circulation again! They’ve been gone for too long. It’s time for the lost coins to come back into the currency of the church and become useful again unto spiritual things!
Illustration:
The third movement of the story brings us at last to finding and rejoicing.
Explanation: What a revelation of the heart of God this is! How God longs to see those who are lost recovered, whether they have wandered away, or whether they are lost at home where it had seemed that they had been in a place of safety.
Application: Today, we do not end this message on how or why they are lost. That is something that you will need to talk to the Father about. But today, we conclude on this note of rejoicing. That if you begin to diligently pursue that which is lost in your own family, then God is faithful and they’ll come a time by His grace, that you can welcome them home again.
CONCLUSION
Application: You’re hear today, and you’re out of the Father’s hand; out of spiritual circulation and therefore not useful in the Kingdom of God as you are presently in a state of lostness. You may be thinking, “I’m not worth very much.” Today is the day; you can be found, placed back into circulation, and leave out of here today celebrating.
Illustration: There are people who don’t realize they’re lost. They don’t understand that a loving God created them. They don’t realize that when this temporary life ends, an eternal life begins. Some people are not raised in a religious or Christian home and others are, and it’s possible to be lost in both settings. Many believe their purpose in life is to be a good person, to be financially successful and take care of their families. Whether or not there is a God or a heaven or a hell or whether or not the Bible is true is never an issue. People are like the coin we’ve talked about today. They aren’t trying to be lost, but they are lost.
