The fall of man meant a lost relationship to the Creator. God understands loss, He empathizes with our grief.
Sermon Transcript
The Parable of the Lost Sheep
Luke 15:1-24
1Now the tax collectors and “sinners” were all gathering around to hear Jesus. 2But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.” 3Then Jesus, in response, told them this parable: 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? 5And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders 6and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.’ 7I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.
The Parable of the Lost Coin
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? 9And when she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost coin.’ 10In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”
The Parable of the Lost Son
11Jesus continued: “There was a man who had two sons. 12The younger one said to his father, ‘Give me my share of the estate.’ So the father divided his property between them. 13″Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. 14After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. 15So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. 16He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything.
17″When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired men have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! 18I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. 19I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired men.’ 20So he got up and went to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him. 21″The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’
22″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. 23Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. 24For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate.
Let us pray
Lord I thank you for Your word which reveals Your heart to us. May You and You alone shine through Your word as we study it this morning. We want to see You Jesus, we want to hear You Jesus, we want to know You in a deep and meaningful way. Amen.
I hate losing things as I’m sure you do too. Most of the time you don’t know something is lost until you need it and then the pressure to find it escalates. Because you need it! Car keys and house keys are the most annoying articles to lose, followed closely by THE TV REMOTE! Don’t you hate it when you settle down in front of the telly, with your dinner on your lap, and then you look for the remote and it’s nowhere to be seen?
I was reading some lost and found stories this week and a couple of them were quite remarkable.
Tiffany Otterbeck wrapped her two diamond rings in a paper towel while she was cooking and then she threw the towel out when she was cleaning up. By the time she realized what she’d done, the trash had already been picked up. So, Otterbeck called the sanitation department, which seems like a long shot. But it turns out that the sanitation supervisor for her neighborhood was a sanitation superhero.
SHOW GARBAGE TRUCK PICTURE
He ordered the truck to immediately stop its garbage collection, park in a safe area, and remain untouched until that evening. That’s when a search party that included Otterbeck, her husband, and five sanitation workers who volunteered to help(!) sifted through seven tons of trash. And they were successful, too, though the search took 45 minutes none of them ever want to speak of it again.
Here’s another interesting Lost & Found!
In 1938, Jesse Taylor Mattos graduated high school in Dunsmuir, California, received a class ring for his troubles, then almost immediately lost the ring in the toilet of the butcher shop he worked in.
SHOW TOILET PICTURE
In 2011, Tony Congi was doing maintenance on some local sewer lines when he spotted a flash of gold in a bucket of debris. He fished the ring out, cleaned it off, saw “Class of 1938” and “J.T.M.” written on it, and put on his detective hat. He went to Dunsmuir High School and found that Mattos was the only 1938 graduate with the initials J.T.M, then he chatted with his neighbour, who had also graduated in 1938. That particular neighbour just so happened to still be friends with Mattos’ (of course!), and they gave Mattos’ phone number to Congi, who showed up in person to return the ring. By that point, Mattos was 90 years old, and upon receiving the ring commented, “Doesn’t sound like you’ve done too much maintenance in 72 years.” Because 90 years old is a full decade past “crotchety.”
All of us can relate to stories of people losing valuable things.
All of us can relate to the three parables told by Jesus – concerning loss.
In Luke 15,
people who were despised by society, tax collectors and sinners, came to hear Jesus.
But some religious leaders complained,
“This Man receives sinners and eats with them” they obviously didn’t value the people whom Jesus spent time with.
Rather these, so called, religious leaders despised the people.
So to affirm how valuable these “sinners” are to God,
Jesus told three memorable stories about a lost sheep (vv.4-7),
SHOW SHEEP PICTURE
a lost coin (vv.8-10),
SHOW COIN PICTURE
and a lost son (vv.11-32).
SHOW LOST SON PICTURE
Three things which people of that time, and this time for that matter, would be able to identify with as being valuable.
SHOW PICTURE – Lost sheep – relates to someone’s vocation which is needed to sustain their standard of living. A job is important!
SHOW PICTURE – Lost coin – obviously deals with money and earthly treasure.
SHOW PICTURE – And a lost son – a precious family member.
The articles that were lost were precious to their owner.
Each parable records the anguish of losing,
the effort of searching,
and the joy of finding something of great worth.
The central figure to each of these parables is God, and God was looking for something that was truly lost.
God understands loss. He does – He lost His most loved creation – mankind.
The fall of man meant a lost relationship to the Creator.
God understands loss, He empathises with our grief.
His Holy Spirit is indeed a comfort to us all when we experience loss. And in life we all do many times over…
BUT in these three parables, one basic element is fundamental:
the father who loses his son,
the woman who loses her coin,
and the shepherd who loses his sheep, do not give up the right of ownership.
I’m going to say that again because I think we may miss this precious point within this scripture
In these three beautiful parables, one basic element is fundamental,
the father who loses his son,
the woman who loses her coin,
and the shepherd who loses his sheep, do not give up the right of ownership.
In each story, we see a picture of God,
God is presented as still claiming His right of ownership even of those who are lost.
He didn’t say,
Oh the sheep has gone, that’s sad, but I have ninety nine more, it doesn’t matter…
let’s forget about the lost sheep and move on, for it’s no longer mine.
No No no He went to find the lost sheep because it was HIS lost sheep.
The lost coin was His lost coin.
The lost son was HIS lost son.
He never gave up the right of ownership. And when they are reclaimed, it is not He who becomes their father or their rightful owner, but they become His again.
This is in full agreement with
Jn 1:12 “But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God.”
God suffered great loss in the Garden of Eden but He didn’t give up hope!
In fact, the rest of the Bible is full of accounts where God is making, or preparing, a way for us to come home. Until finally,
with the account of Christmas we are reminded of God’s great effort to recover and redeem what was initially His.
HIS HIS HIS
God is central not us!
Christianity is not about us taking Him on board,
Fitting Him into our life
Giving God a try,
Having a go with Jesus!
That’s not what it’s about folks!
Rather it is Him welcoming us into His kingdom.
It is us saying, ‘God I surrender to YOU the rightful owner of my life. Now what do YOU want me to do for YOU?’
Because He’s already done it all for us.
God is the centre of the universe.
In Him we live and move and have our being.
God is not there for us.
We are here for God.
And we were lost but He’s found us.
We were blind but now He HAS enabled us to see Him.
BUT IT IS ALL ABOUT HIM!!!!!
In each one of these parables, we see a picture of God,
He is the central figure within these parables the loving Father,
Who loses something precious – souls of great value.
Who personally searches for them and rejoices over EVERY lost soul who is found.
Even if you feel far from God today, you are highly valued by Him.
He’s searching for you.
The Bible says in 2 Chronicles16:9
For the eyes of the LORD search the whole earth in order to strengthen those whose hearts are committed to Him.
He is looking for you because He values you and He wants you to belong to Him.
He wants to give you the right to become His child.
Let Him find you,
He’s knocking on your heart’s door.
He’s made a way for you to come home.
Before I finish and pray,
I have a very practical true story to tell which has a marvellous likeness to what Christ has done for us.
I’ve often spoken about a lovely old lady who fellowshipped in our church right up to the time of her death. Her name was Norma Warner. A fine Christian woman if ever I knew one,
Norma went home to be with LORD early November 2016. Soon after her departure, I managed on 2 occasions to have a chat with her younger brother Darryl.
Darryl is a Vietnam war veteran and he tearfully told me, on both these occasions, of the time that his father was dying in Perth, when he (Darryl) was fighting in Vietnam.
As soon as he heard the news, he knew that it wouldn’t be easy for him to get home in time to see his father before he passed away.
He’d just been on a military operation in the jungle, when he received the information that his dad was critically ill. And so, before even taking a shower (and he said he stank because they never washed when they went out into the jungle since the enemy would smell them out and kill them). So, before he even had a chance to take a shower, he approached the officer in charge to request leave in an attempt to try and get home in time.
As soon as the request came out of his mouth the officer said, I know your father is sick because your sister Norma has written to the right people back home and now I have HER letter on my desk requesting you be released to come home immediately.
It’s all been arranged; your sister’s letter has made a way for you to leave now. So, get your stuff and hop on the plane that’s waiting for you – you’re going home soldier! That was Christmas eve. He was sitting by his father’s side in Australia the very next day. Christmas Day.
Norma had made a way for her brother to get home to their father.
When Darryl told me this story, I immediately responded with, “Darryl, your sister Norma has sent another request, another ‘letter’ to your ‘commander in chief’, your Heavenly FAther. She’s been praying for years that when you die you’ll go home to be with THE FATHER. But Darryl you need to accept Him as YOUR Father, your SAVIOUR.”
I know the Holy Spirit really spoke to Darryl that day and I believe He continues to speak to Darryl simply because Norma has requested it to happen, for years, through prayer.
The Holy Spirit speaks to you today, He’s searched for you to make YOU HIS.
How do I know this?
Because the bible tells me so, the bible tells me that Jesus has made a way for you to get back to the Father.
Come Home to the Father, let Him make you His. He will give you the right to be His child with all the blessing that comes along with it.
All you must do is say sorry for doing things your way – the sinful way, acknowledge Him as YOUR Saviour and start to live doing things the Father’s way according to the Bible.