Lost and Found

 Read Luke 15

This chapter has three stories given in response to the Pharisees and teachers of the law noting that Jesus ate with sinners and tax collectors. Did you ever stop to think about those designations?

Sinners—we get that.  Those were the lawless people who couldn’t keep the rules.  They broke God’s rules.

But tax collectors—why not lump them in with the sinners and just label the whole lot as sinners? Perhaps it was not God’s law they were breaking but the human culture of the Jews. These people were helping the Romans.  They were traitors. They were breaking man’s law, at least the unwritten ones by which we condemn others.

In any case, the Pharisees and teachers of the law declared that Jesus was associating with the wrong people. Those people don’t run in the right circles.

Jesus replied with three stories that I would label Lost and Found.

First, a shepherd is missing one of his sheep.  He had one hundred and now has only ninety-nine. He could be content with a one-percent loss, but he is not.

He goes out looking for his lost sheep.  The other sheep are left to themselves momentarily while the shepherd goes looking.

When he finds it, he rejoices in the moment and tells all of his friends.  He found his lost sheep and he is bringing him back home.

Some people substitute Jesus for the shepherd. Don’t do that.  Let Jesus tell the story so that we have a greater understanding.  Jesus says what if one of you had one hundred sheep…

He is giving a human example to make his heavenly point. It’s a parable in this way.  Jesus set the things that we understand in this world alongside those things he wants us to understand about his Father and his kingdom.

What did Jesus explain about the kingdom of Heaven? That when one lost soul is found or comes home there is much rejoicing in heaven.  In God’s kingdom, those whom the Pharisees labeled sinners are just lost.  They have drifted away.

Their lifestyle is not godly. From God’s perspective, they are not the focus of disdain but souls in need of rescue. God sent his Son to save us not condemn us.

There is rejoicing at the rescue of a single person!

Jesus told the same story but used a woman and her ten coins.  Again when her lost coin was found, there was much celebrating.

‘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.”

Sheep and coins are great examples, but the next story—parable if you will—uses a father and son. The younger son is anxious to experience the world.  He doesn’t want to wait for Dad to die to get his share of the estate.  He asked for it now.

Dad obliged and the younger son went out and sold what he had and then spent the money foolishly.  He lived the life for a while but soon was broke.

There was famine in the country where he was living and he was broke.  He got a job feeding pigs but the pigs ate better than he did.  Reality hit him and hit him hard.

If he was working as a servant for his father, he would be better off than he was now. He knew he couldn’t just go home but he might be able to convince his father to hire him as a servant.

He decided that is what he would do. He was rehearsing a speech that he would give his dad about how he had sinned against God and against his own father. Maybe he could convince his own father whom he had declared as good as dead by asking for his part of the estate, to hire him as a servant.

This young man never got the chance to finish his speech and ask for a job.  Dad spotted him while he was still a long way off and ran to him.  He wasn’t running so he could tell him I told you so. He was welcoming his son—his lost son—back home.

“But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring 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. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate.

Everyone was happy! Well, not really everyone—the older son was furious.  He had played by the rules all of his life and now his own father welcomes this kid back as family.  That’s unfair!  Why does he care for him?

Did he forget that this no good, prostitute-loving, son of his (not brother of mine but son of his father) squandered all of your money and considered you dead to him.

We see the disdain of the Pharisees clearly in the anger of the older son.

But what was Dad’s answer?

‘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.’”

This last parable is not really about the wayward ways of one son and the steadfast ways of the other.  It’s about the unbounded love of the father, a father who would love a son who loved his father’s money more than his father.

This is about how great our Father’s love is. If a human father can show this much love, how much more will your Father in heaven love you—even the you who was once lost.

We can look down upon those who are lost or we can continue our efforts to reach them.

Many in our country, even in our own towns and counties here in the Bible Belt, are still lost. They say they know Jesus. They think they are saved. They don’t want to take on the yoke of the One who should be their Master, but they give lip service to him.

There are people who say that one religion is as good as another. It doesn’t matter Just pick one.  They all get you to heaven or nirvana or you get to come back as a goat in the next life.  What does it matter?

There are plenty of people who just do not believe there is a God. At least they have convinced themselves there isn’t.

Our choice is to view them like the Pharisees as someone outside of our circle and undeserving of God’s love or to see them as souls in need of rescue.

With people, you can’t just throw them over your shoulder like a sheep and bring them home. You can’t just put a person back into the stack of coins.

We must reach out and invite people to know the Lord. We must be the light of the world and the salt of the earth.

We must be known by our love.

We must have eyes to see those who do not know the Lord as lost and not as enemies.

There is a whole bunch of celebrating going on in heaven when one sinner repents and comes to the Lord. That is how we should see those who do not know the Lord.

They are opportunities for celebration.

We don’t do this alone. God’s own Spirit goes with us wherever we go and we are told there will be a time when he will pour out his Spirit upon this world.

God desires that none perish and that all come to life in Christ Jesus.

There are very few churches that have not struggled in this century.  The pandemic or plandemic, however, you see it, surely made things worse.

But we must be ready to receive those who will come in response to God’s Spirit leading them to life. We must be ready to celebrate every soul that comes to salvation as a victory for the kingdom of God.

We as the body of Christ must also be ready to disciple them. That means that we say let’s walk together as we grow nearer our Lord.

A football player scores a touchdown and then has a five-minute dance in celebration.  Don’t you think that one lost person who comes to know the Lord is worth a celebration?

We are very welcoming and celebratory when we have a profession of faith or a baptism, but we must be on the lookout for those who are still lost.

We don’t see the lost as targets of our human condemnation but as people in need of rescue.

Many are lost. Some will be found—they will home come.

We will celebrate.

Let’s look down on no one but take the good news and a sincere invitation to know the Lord to everyone.

We had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.

Many are in need of a relationship with God. Let’s take them the good news and be ready to receive them in fellowship as brothers and sisters in Christ.

Each person who comes is cause for celebration.

Amen.