Missing In Action
Luke 15:1-7
You will notice that today we have a POW - MIA flag hanging behind the pulpit. It is an unfortunate symbol that has come about because of the Pride of man. As I sat this past week and watched the news of our solders starting to return home and our POW’s returning home, my heart was filled with joy. But I know that in every war there are causalities. Some good people die and some good people never get home.
Paul says in Ephesians 6:10-12 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his great power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can fight against the devil’s evil tricks. Our fight (or War) is not against people on earth but against the rulers and authorities and the powers of this world’s darkness, against the spiritual powers of evil in the heavenly world.
Paul says that we are at war. And if you have been clothed with Christ then you are a solder in this battle. And just like in any war or battle there are some unfortunate consequences. In the Army of God today there are those who are Missing in Action.
I. Who is Missing In Action?
There are several different types of causalities in this war. The result of every case is death. You see we can fool everyone in this room, this town and this county but God knows the truth if He lives in our hearts.
The first group of those who are Missing in Action are those who only come to worship on Sunday Mornings and do not study or pray.
Sure because they fill out attendance cards, or make it to an occasional Bible class they think that they are fine. But we need to realize that God wants 100% of your heart. Not just part. If we are Sunday Christians at best then we are lukewarm at best. John writes in Revelation 3:15-16 "I know all the things you do, that you are neither hot nor cold. I wish you were one or the other! But since you are like lukewarm water, I will spit you out of my mouth!
If we are lukewarm, we detest God to the point that the King James says we make Him want to puke, do you think that we are pleasing to God?
The next group of those who are Missing In Action are those who only come every now and then.
They might have been committed at their Baptisms but now they are just dabbling or playing with Christianity.
They come once in a while when other things don’t come up. They would be at worship but the weather is just perfect for golf, or if their next door neighbors best friend’s brother’s girlfriend’s dog wasn’t having puppies then they would be sure to be here.
Yesterday and today they are having the NFL Draft. It has got me wondering what would happen if football coaches approached their work like most churches are expected to. For example, I wonder what would happen if when a player was too busy to show up for practice, the understanding coach simply said, “We’ll miss you. I hope you’ll be able to make it next week sometime.” Imagine the players leaving practice and hearing the smiling coach say, “Thanks for coming. I hope you’ll come back tomorrow.”
If a football team operated like a typical church, we might expect concerned members to call the coach, saying, “I believe that Practice is boring, and I don’t want to come anymore. I was wondering, could you make it a little more fun? And by the way, you might want to talk to the coach at the school across town. He seems to have the right idea.”
The coach might send out quarterly questionnaires about what the players would like to change about the team (I can just imagine the answers: “shorter practices,” “more winning”).
A coach, responding like a typical church, might first feel guilty that the practices were not meeting the player’s needs, and he would try to adjust his program to suit this player and every other player who complained. Between trying to keep everybody happy and giving every player a good experience, the coach would squeeze in a little football practice. And what kind of season would this coach have? It’s a safe bet that the coach wouldn’t be the only one who felt like a loser.
But this is the very way that most churches function. To expect that members be committed to the church at the same level of commitment that would be expected on an athletic team would draw the charge of legalism and become intolerable to most Christians. Because the god of individualism pressures us to program to the lowest common denominator, we seldom raise the expectations high enough for members to experience real community.
Real community means real responsibility for each other. It means a commitment to be there for each other even when the schedule is tight and when motivation is low. But the typical Christian adult in our culture knows little about commitment to community.
The last group of those who are Missing In Action are those who were here once but now they have fallen off the face of the earth.
I am sure that if you think hard enough you could come up with a list of brothers and sisters in Christ who at one time worshiped with you, attended Bible Class with you, fellowshipped with you and then slowly at first and eventually all together fell off the face of the earth.
You had wonderful intentions, to call them and check on them but something came up. You made excuses for them in your mind but they have done the very thing that the Hebrew writer warned against in Hebrews 3:12 Take care, brethren, lest there should be in any one of you an evil, unbelieving heart, in falling away from the living God.
II. Why Do They Leave
In our reading today we see a glimpse of why there are those who are Missing in Action and what our responsibility to those are.
Luke 15:4 "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?
The first reason some are Missing In Action is because they are not connected
There are several things that we do as a church to let people know that they are not wanted.
We are secret keepers: We interrupt conversations so that we can whisper to people or pull them off in a room so we can talk in private.
We are ignorers: there are two people standing there and we ask one person out to eat but not the other one.
We Are Braggers: we go on and on about something we did with a group from church where other individuals weren’t invited.
Anytime you do these things you are basically saying to someone you don’t matter.
The Second reason some people are Missing In Action is because they were run off.
Luke 15: 8 "Or what woman, if she has ten silver coins and loses one coin,”
Some times we shoot our wounded. How many times has it happened in churches across the globe, that someone comes forward to confess a sin and we treat them as lepers?
We believe that we have all sinned and fall short of the Glory of God but we also believe that your sins are worse than mine.
I am reminded of a friend of mine who told me about a Sunday in the Church where he worshiped. He offered the invitation and a man came forward to confess that he was struggling with Internet pornography. He said as he took the confession he could imagine the gasp that the congregation would utter. But he felt compelled to do something more.
As he stood before the church on behalf of this brother, he told of his confession, and then he said I know that he is not alone. As a matter of fact I know that there are some more in this congregation today that struggle with the same things. And I beg you today that if you also have this same struggle that you come forward and hold this brother accountable.
It was a very uncomfortable silence for the next 50 seconds. He said it seemed like an eternity. But then one man finally came forward. What happened next was truly a work of God. He said when it was all over 24 men and 2 women came forward.
How easy could it have been for that church to kill that Christian off?
When Trista leaves I am in the house all by myself. It get’s bigger when you are all alone and there is no one to hold you accountable at 3:00 in the morning. Trista and I have made a deal, and like Job I have made a covenant with my eyes. Trista takes the power cord to the computer so I won’t be tempted. The last time she left several of you asked me why I wasn’t responding to e-mails. When I explained what was going on I got responses like, “Oh I’m sorry.” Or “Well that’s a little steep.” Or my favorite, “Are you trying to tell me something?”
The covenant is not something I am ashamed of or anything I have done wrong. But when people don’t understand, they get nervous. And nervous people shoot at will.
The Last reason some people are Missing in Action is because of the hardness of their hearts.
Luke 15:12-13 and the younger of them said to his father, ’Father, give me the share of the estate that falls to me.’ And he divided his wealth between them. And not many days later, the younger son gathered everything together and went on a journey into a distant country,”
This isn’t the first time that Jesus has approached this issue. In Matthew 13 He tells the parable of the sower. Listen to what he says about the soils.
Matthew 13:19-21 What is the seed that fell by the road? That seed is like the person who hears the message about the kingdom but does not understand it. The Evil One comes and takes away what was planted in that person’s heart. And what is the seed that fell on rocky ground? That seed is like the person who hears the teaching and quickly accepts it with joy. But he does not let the teaching go deep into his life, so he keeps it only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the teaching he accepted, he quickly gives up.
Our hearts determine what type of solder we are in the war. If our hearts are soft and moldable, if we truly search for the will of God then we will be wholly committed to the church and family of God.
But sometimes we are confused. We are trying to make the church and the world compatible. If it works by a worldly standard then it must also work in the church. But we forget that the church and the world are opposed to each other. So in our struggle to get the world and the church to agree we get frustrated and leave.
Then there are those who are like the seed planted on the rocky soil. They get excited and work real hard at first but then they get frustrated. People don’t have the same enthusiasm or have the same drive and desire that they have. People want to be involved in other ministries, or want to minister in different ways. It is immaturity, struggling to be the greatest in the Kingdom, wanting everyone to see it, feel it, and do it my way. And when the pressures and strife come it is better to just leave.
Finally there are those who are like the thorny soil who come to this family and they seem to have real growth in their lives but something happens at work, or someone in their family get’s sick, and they begin to miss meeting with the church. We know where they are and begin to make excuses for them but pretty soon the sick family member is better or things cool down at work and the next thing you know the Baseball game, or family time with the kids has become more important than the church. They start having family worship time on the lake in a fishing boat and pretty soon they don’t come to church at all.
762 times in the Bible we read about the heart of man. We are told that our relationship with God and the family of God depends on our heart.
The Hebrew writer says in 3:12 See to it, brothers, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God.
You see some people are Missing In Action Today because of a heart problem.
Close:
There is a story about a story about Vladimir Nabokov, the Russian writer who wrote Lolita, and Pale Fire. One summer Nabokov and his family were staying with some friends in Alta, Utah. While there Nabokov took the opportunity to enlarge his collection of butterflies and moths.
One evening at dusk he returned from his day’s excursion saying that during hot pursuit near Bear Gulch he had heard someone groaning pathetically down by the stream. “‘Did you stop’ His friend asked him. “‘No, I had to get the butterfly.’”
The next day the dead body of an aged prospector was discovered in what has been renamed, in Nabokov’s honor, Dead Man’s Gulch.” While people around us are dying, how often we chase butterflies!
There may be some of our family today that are Missing In Action that are just waiting for you to come. Are you committed to this family enough to go and get those who are missing? To encourage them, love them, and lift them up?
And maybe there are some here today that need to come home. Who have not been the child of God they need to be. Maybe there are those here who need to be held accountable by this family to do more than warm a pew on Sunday mornings, and be a totally committed child of God.
And then there may be some here who have driven people from the family of God, or shot the wounded. Maybe you realize that your attitude has driven those away from God instead of encouraging them to be an active member of the family, and you now know that you need forgiveness of your sins. Today we offer you the invitation.
Missing In Action Part 2
This morning we started looking at our family members that are missing in Action. We talked about who is missing in action, and why they leave. Tonight I want to look at our responsibility to those who lay on the battlefield.
What should be our attitude towards those who are Missing In Action?
There are four different attitudes we could have:
We could hate them.
These are brothers and sisters in Christ that we have worshiped with, and served with, family who we have prayed with and played with. And now for whatever reason they are not here.
It is easy to feel abandoned and feel like we are left to shoulder the load. I remember a church in Tennessee that agreed they needed to build a Multi Purpose Building to house a preschool and offer a place to have church fellowships. In the midst of the building program some members left to become members of other families, or got tired of the struggle and quit all together. It was amazing to see the attitude of the remaining members.
They felt the financial burden of paying for the building. They felt abandoned because their friends were no longer there. And they felt less than because members of their family had moved on to greener pastures.
These feelings quickly turned to hate. Brothers and sisters, who praised, prayed to, communed with the same God ignored one another and left the missing for dead.
Our next attitude could be Regard them with indifference,
If you see an accident even one with very severe injuries you will see three different types of people, each with a different response toward those involved in the accident.
The first group is the bystanders and onlookers. They are curious and watch to see what happens but have little active involvement.
The second group is the police officers. Their response was to investigate the cause of the accident, assign blame, and give out appropriate warnings and punishments.
The third group is the paramedics. They are the people usually most welcomed by those involved in the accident. They could care less whose fault the accident was and they did not engage in lecturing about bad driving habits. Their response was to help those who were hurt. They bandaged wounds, freed trapped people, and gave words of encouragement.
Three groups - one is uninvolved, one is assigning blame and assessing punishment, and one is helping the hurting.
Sometimes we act like the bystanders. We are curious for the sake of curiosity but we really could care less. We don’t know the people, we don’t depend on them, we don’t have a relationship with them and the only time we will thing about the accident is to tell others about it.
Welcome them when they come crawling back to you.
It is our human instinct to get revenge. When we feel abandoned there is pain involved. So when the one who walked out wants to come home we try to make them feel the same pain that we felt.
It happens in marriages, friendships, and churches.
Someone wants to come home and repents do we open our arms and receive them with gladness or do we put them on probation?
Could someone leave the church, struggle with alcohol and drug abuse for 20 years then come home, and lead public prayers, or preside over the Lord’s table the next week?
Or do we want them to prove themselves first?
Even thought it might feel like these are the things that we need to do these fall short of our responsibility. We as believers who have experienced the all-consuming grace of God really have only one choice. And that is to fulfill our responsibility.
III. What is our responsibility?
The soldier’s first article of faith is summed up nowhere more eloquently than in an 1865 letter from General Sherman to General Grant: “I knew wherever I was that you thought of me, and if I got in a tight place you would come—if alive.” This is the unwritten, unspoken but unbreakable contract of the battlefield: You will leave no one, dead or alive, in the hands of the enemy.
We have a responsibility to our brethren. Just as every solder has a responsibility to leave no one behind the same is true in our spiritual war. Let’s turn back to Luke 15 and see our responsibilities.
Our first responsibility is to search for them.
Luke 15:4 leave the ninety-nine in the open pasture, and go after the one, which is lost, until he finds it?
This is not easy. To be honest a lot of times we search for those Missing In Action like I search for my socks.
I sit on the bed and call Trista who is in the other room getting ready, ironing clothes, and dressing Trafton. “Hey, Trista have you seen my brown socks?”
She replies “I think they are in your sock drawer.”
With out moving I ask, “Are you sure I don’t see them.”
“That’s where I put them when I folded them.”
“Where else could they be?”
“Try the clean clothes I haven’t gotten to yet. There in here.”
With that I get up and move into the room where she is. I sit on the floor half watching the cartoon that Trafton is watching and half looking through a basket of warm clean clothes. “Nope not in here, I say.”
With that Trista leaves the 3 things she’s doing to go to my sock drawer and pull out my brown socks. “Jeremy, There right where I told you to look for them.” And she hands them to me.
I get off the floor and kiss her cheek and say “Thank you, what would I do with out you.”
I then go to the bed room and sit on the bed and call out, “Trista have you seen my shoes?”
We believe that it is important to seek and save those who are Missing In Action but someone else would do a better job. It would be better for me to sit on the edge of the bed.
Our passage shows someone with true concern for the lost. He leaves the comfort of the 99 and goes wherever he needs to, to find the lost. I am sure it wasn’t a quick trip or even an easy one. There had to be thorn bushes to walk through, rivers to cross, and hills to climb. But it doesn’t matter the shepherd loves the lost sheep and the trip is worth it.
If we truly love those of our number who are missing in action then we will be willing to take the long trip and do the uncomfortable. We are willing to make the phone calls, write the cards, and leave the comfort of our homes to go visit. We are willing to listen to the complaints, and grumblings and in the end show them the love and grace that we have been shown so that we can bring the lost home where they belong.
Our Second responsibility is to show the Love of God
Luke 15:8 light a lamp and sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it?
When Christ lives in us, we become the light of the world because of Christ IN us. People who are Missing In Action are often trapped by the darkness of this world looking for a little light, because light is the only way out.
When we show the Love of God to those who are lost we are showing them the way home.
In an Inner City Community in Montgomery, a little boy was sitting on a stoop with a small piece of broken mirror in his hand. Holding it high in the air he moved it slowly back and forth, watching the narrow slit of a window above him as he did so.
A man came out of the door that the boy was sitting on and asked the boy, "What are you doing on my stoop? Like most boys in this neighborhood, you’re probably up to some mischief, aren’t you?"
The boy looked up into the stern face of his accuser and said, "No sir, see that window up there? Well, I have a little brother who has a room on that floor. He’s a cripple. The only sunlight he ever sees is what I shine up to him with my mirror!"
Brethren we may be the only light that lost can see. Do we reflect the light of the Son so that someone who is Missing In Action can find their way home?
Next we need to provide a place where people can feel connected and comfortable enough to come home.
Luke 15: 17 "But when he came to his senses, he said, ’How many of my father’s hired men have more than enough bread, but I am dying here with hunger!
This boy was at his wits end. He needed comfort and when he thought back to a place of comfort he remembered His fathers house.
When I was younger and we worshiped at the DeGaulle Drive Church of Christ in New Orleans there was a family who came to us seeking refuge from the world. For all practical purposes they came out of nowhere. They have one of the neatest stories that I had ever heard and it has stayed with me.
When the wife was a little girl she was invited by her neighbor to a Vacation Bible School at our church. She said all she remembered was friendly faces and warm cookies and the Bible that she was given on Friday.
Her family had been going through turmoil for some time and now they had a 6 month old that wasn’t making it any better. They had never gone to church in their life but after seeing a commercial from a Catholic Church about the peace of God they were desperate and were willing to try anything. It was then that she remembered the Bible and the warm cookies.
After 8 days of searching she found the Bible with the Churches name written in it. The next Sunday morning there were there. And when we moved from New Orleans they were still there.
We need to make every effort that this church is a place of compassion and comfort. A Place where people cam remember in times of turmoil the Comfort that resides here. And therefore give them the desire to come home.
Are you doing everything possible to make this a place of Comfort or are you a secret keeper, ignorer, or a Bragger?
I am reminded of what Paul says in Philippians 4:2-3 “I plead with Euodia and I plead with Syntyche to agree with each other in the Lord. I ask you, loyal yokefellow, help these women.”
If there are two people in this church striving to be the greatest then it can destroy any feelings of comfort. And instead of inviting people to come home it will run them off.
Finally we need to provide a real place where people can get forgiveness
Luke 15:22-24 "But the father said to his slaves, ’Quickly bring out the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet; and bring the fattened calf, kill it, and let us eat and be merry; for this son of mine was dead, and has come to life again; he was lost, and has been found.’ And they began to be merry.
The Boy wasn’t ready for the grace so richly poured out on him. The father gave him a robe, which shows that he was being restored to the protection of the family. He gave him a signet ring that represented the union of heart between the father and son, it was a sign of authority. The father gave him shoes, to show that the boy was family. Only family members were allowed to wear shoes, the servants went barefooted. The restoration was complete. The father did not hold the sins of the son over his head, but he forgave him.
I go back to what I asked you earlier. Could someone leave the church, struggle with alcohol and drug abuse for 20 years then come home, and lead public prayers, or preside over the Lord’s table the next week? Or do we want them to prove themselves first?
Forgiveness should be done as quickly as possible. I know that it doesn’t happen immediately, but neither should we prolong the gracious gift of forgiveness until we feel like it’s deserved.
If we try to make people deserve forgiveness then there is no longer room for grace. And Paul says it is Grace that saves us in Ephesians 2:5
Closing:
There were two friends who served together during World War I. They spent much of the war involved in trench warfare, suffering from terrible living conditions and being constantly under fire. The closeness of the trenches and the terror of the war drew these two friends closer and closer together. They talked about life, their families, and their hopes and about their future when and if they returned home.
During one battle when the troops had left their trenches and charged the enemy, Jim was severely wounded and fell on the battlefield. Bill made it back to the trench as the enemy’s shelling continued; Jim lay suffering, all alone, in the no man’s land between the trenches.
As the shelling continued, Bill wanted to go to his friend so he could comfort him and encourage him as only a friend could do, but the officer in charge refused to let Bill leave the trench because it was too dangerous. But when the officer turned his back, Bill left the trench and began to make his way toward his friend. Shells exploded all around him, but he continued. Finally he made it to Jim.
He managed to drag Jim back to the trench, but it was too late. His friend died in his arms. The officer, seeing that he had died, looked at Bill and said, "Well, was it worth the risk?"
Without hesitation Bill said, "Yes, sir, it was. My friend’s last words made it more than worth it. He looked up at me" and said, ’I knew you would come"’
There may be some of our family today that are Missing In Action that are just waiting for you to come. Are you committed to this family enough to go and get those who are missing? To encourage them, love them, and lift them up?
And maybe there are some here today that need to come home. Who have not been the child of God they need to be. Maybe there are those here who need to be held accountable by this family to do more than warm a pew on Sunday mornings, and be a totally committed child of God.
And then there may be some here who have driven people from the family of God, or shot the wounded. Maybe you realize that your attitude has driven those away from God instead of encouraging them to be an active member of the family, and you now know that you need forgiveness of your sins. Today we offer you the invitation.
