Lost and Found

“Lost and Found”

Jeremiah 4:11-12, 22-28              Luke 15:1-10

 

Did you notice where Jesus was and who he was with?  Did you notice what the leaders of the faith said about that?

As the parables pointed out because heaven rejoices over the return of one sinner…Jesus seeks those sinners just as the shepherd sought the sheep and the woman searched for the coin.  God calls us to do the same…to pursue the lost.  The hope that is shared in these parables is that in seeking the lost we will find some and lead them back to Jesus.

The three parables that make up chapter 15 of Luke tell us that God is committed to finding the lost.  Jesus is committed to the same and the parables show us the temptation among many believers to ignore the lost…though we are commanded to find them…be among them…and bring Jesus to them.

In these parables Jesus chooses the scribes and the Pharisees to make his comparison.  Today he would choose those for whom the so-called proper thing is considered most important.  The scribes and Pharisees could not believe that Jesus would spend so much time receiving sinners and eating with them.  Such table fellowship represents an absence of the separation they think goodness demands.  Jesus told them…however…that spending time with the lost is a demand of the call of God.

Anyone who has ever searched for something lost knows how maddening it is to look for it and not find it.  This frustration is the beginning of the two parables.  The first story fits the agricultural…rural setting of Palestine.  A shepherd counting a hundred sheep came up one short.  The shepherd is a person of modest means.  He went to look for the lost animal.  The hunt was successful.  The shepherd rejoiced at finding the valuable sheep.

Jesus’ point is not one about the recovery of lost property…it is a comparison of the effort the shepherd makes to recover the lost sheep with Jesus’ own work at evangelism.  It’s the same idea as Isaiah’s word of God’s tender care for us.  That’s the model that Jesus would want to be our model in relating to the lost.

The recovery of the lost sheep leads to joy that is shared.  The shepherd calls his friends and neighbors to celebrate.  This is a picture of God’s heart and God’s joy at the turning of one sinner back to him.  Jesus said there will be the same kind of rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents…more  than over 99 righteous who do not need to repent.

The second parable is similar.  This time a woman hunts for a lost coin.  It’s value is equal to that of a day’s wages.  It is a modest amount.  Her search takes time and effort.  She lights a lamp, sweeps the room and searches carefully until she finds the coin.  When she does she is as excited as the shepherd was.  She also calls her neighbors to celebrate.  Again…this is a picture of heaven’s joy at a sinner’s repentance.

These parables are among the simplest stories of Jesus…communicating both truth and emotion.  God wants servants who understand his great desire to restore sinners.  In both stories…the search takes work.  In both stories what is searched for seems…on the surface…to be a modest object.

But…in fact…the search becomes a priority.  In both cases…the recovery of what was lost leads to great rejoicing with others.  The stories underscore God’s desire for disciples to share the goal of winning the lost back to him.  The focus is on the joy at the recovery of a sinner…not on the fact that Jesus is the only one to do it.

The idea expressed here is basic to the church accomplishing its mission.  God does not want believers to isolate themselves from the world to such a degree that they never relate to the lost.  Jesus was constantly out among people…especially people who did not know God.  Though some grumbled that he had the wrong associations… Jesus knew why he was building such relationships.  He knew that something might develop to influence a person who did not know God to consider him seriously.  People like Matthew and Zaccheus were discovered this way.

Another feature that bridges the centuries is Jesus’ rebuke of the Pharisees.  They kept their distance from sinners and refused to accept a spiritual leader who seemed to love and associate with them.  Jesus challenged their attitude…not only during his ministry…but especially in his death for the lost…the death that restores sinners to relationship with God.  The heart of the gospel…and of the work of disciples…is reaching out to the sinner and helping to make a way for their forgiveness.

It is easy to dismiss as insignificant the many kinds of people our culture has cast aside or views with contempt.  People who suffer from debilitating diseases…people on some kind of public assistance…alcoholics and drug abusers…people of other faiths and no faith at all.  Jesus pursued these very people with such vigor that the religious community of the first century questioned his character.  These parables explain why this pursuit meant so much to him.  He knew that rescue was possible…and love pushed him to rescue the perishing.  We are called to the same action.  Jesus wants us…also… to search for those who are lost.

These parables say much about the heart of God…trying to engage those who are not interested in Him.  He cares enough to go looking for them…even when they have chosen to stay away.  He wants you and me to be like raiders searching for great treasure…that treasure is the lost vulnerable sheep.  The search is not always easy but the joy at the end makes it worth the effort.

Jesus wants believers to be engaging the lost in meaningful relationships.  Too often…in the church however…we see the opposite.  We withdraw for fear of compromising our own testimony.  As a result there is no one around to testify to.  Like the shepherd and the woman’s search to find the lost…it takes effort…time and energy.  Our Lord calls us to get out among people and build the relationships that allow us to draw others to God.

You may recall that I once earned my living selling radio advertising.  My first sales manager was not much of a teacher.  He said, “Here’s a phone book, rate card and order forms.  Now, go make some sales.
My second sales manager…Howard…was just the opposite…a great teacher.  At every weekly sales meeting…in addition to always justified praise and criticism…he taught.

One day Howard cautioned us to not be engaged in “plate glass qualifying.”  He said that was the practice of car sales people who stood or sat in their air conditioned showrooms watching people outside looking at cars.  He said those sales people would decide whether to approach those people as potential customers…based on what they observed through the plate glass.  One weekend I tested Howard’s teaching…didn’t shave or shower for a couple days and went to the lot of a dealer who was one of my clients.  None of the sales people even greeted me.  A couple weeks later I went dressed in business clothes and three sales people greeted me.

On another occasion Howard said, “I bet we drive by more business than we write.”  That week he rode with each of us as we made our daily rounds.  The next week he rode with us, but as we drove he would periodically tell us to stop.  We went in the business and Howard did the talking and listening.  He didn’t close a new sale each time…but he did open doors for us to close sales in the near future.

On this day of national and personal remembering…there are many opportunities for contacts that lead to finding the lost.  Let us reach out to those who still hurt because of loss…real or perceived…suffered that day fifteen years ago.  Let us reach out to those for whom hurt and anger caused by a radical few have turned to hatred for many.  Let us reach out to those whose faith…though different from ours…causes them to be shunned, ridiculed and hated in the communities we share.

Let us not engage in “plate glass qualifying.”  Let us not in our habits or haste drive past an opportunity to find a lost person.

You see…just as he did…Jesus calls us to be on the lookout for the lost…and to be prepared to take the initiative in helping them find their way home to God.

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