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2001
14th October (am) - Lost people matter to God
LUKE 15

Christian writer and speaker Tony Campolo tells the story of a time when he was on a speaking engagement in Honolulu, Hawaii. Having flown from Philadelphia, near the east coast of the USA, his body clock had not properly adjusted to the time difference, he found himself wide awake at 3:00 in the morning, and wandering the streets of Honolulu, looking for an open diner. Finding one, he went inside to order breakfast, and while eating, the door opened and in marched eight or nine provocative and boisterous prostitutes. Campolo felt really out of place.

One of the women was telling the others that the next was her birthday, to which she received a rather nasty response, 'So what do you want, a birthday party?' The woman whose birthday it was, explained that she never had a birthday party in her whole life. When Campolo heard this, he made a decision, and when the women left he arranged with the owner of the diner and his wife to throw the woman, Agnes, a birthday party the next night. Needless to say Agnes was overwhelmed, stunned and shaken the next night when she saw what had been done for her. It seemed as if every prostitute in Honolulu was there to celebrate with her.

Agnes was so overwhelmed that she took her cake, and took her leave for a while. When she had left, everyone was silent not knowing what to do, so Campolo, in typical style, said, 'What do you say we pray?' So he prayed for this prostitute that she would know God in her life. When he had finished praying, the owner of the diner, Harry, leaned over to Campolo and said, 'Hey! You never told me you were a preacher. What kind of church do you belong to?' Campolo replied, 'I belong to a church that throws birthday parties for whores at 3:30 in the morning.'

Is that the sort of church we belong to? A church which has an incredible concern for lost people. This is the sort of church Jesus Christ was and is, I believe, trying to create. Now the tax collectors and 'sinners' were gathering round to hear him. (v1) It is a mistake to think that lost people are not interested in hearing about God. But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, "This man welcomes sinners, and eats with them". And if we say similar things about Christians who do evangelism in pubs, or spend time with people who are living with HIV/AIDS, or whatever our equivalent of 'tax collectors' and 'sinners' are, then we are missing the point, big time, about why God has placed the Church on earth. It has been said that the Church exists for the benefit of its non-members. Luke 15, teaches us this incredible truth, about the nature and purpose of the Church. It also teaches us about the reality of human lostness, and about the heart of God the Father.
As we look at this passage, God speaks to us in a powerful way through the parables of the lost sheep, the lost coin and the lost son. Time does not permit us to look at everything, so we will confine ourselves to three essential elements of this passage:

SOMETHING OF GREAT VALUE WAS LOST

I don't know what you are like for losing things. But my guess is that if you lost something of great value, then you would want to find it again. Perhaps a favorite piece of jewelry, or a precious family heirloom, or a journal, or a child, and dear knows, we only have to see the anxiety on parents faces in news bulletins when a child goes missing.

In the three parables of Jesus in Luke 15, something of great value was lost. A sheep, a coin, a son. The sheep was valuable to the owner. It represented economic value, it was part of the owners livelihood, essential for his income and provision and finding that one sheep was a risk worth taking. The coin was valuable to the woman. One silver coin may seem to us a modest sum, but it may have represented a day's wages to this woman. She may have been a widow and it represented a tenth of her estate. The son was valuable to the father - we do not have to elaborate on the preciousness of children to their parents.

We do not have to look to deeply into this passage to see what Jesus is getting at here. Something of great value was lost. And as the tax collectors and 'sinners' listened to these stories, as the Pharisees and teachers of the law eaves dropped on Jesus just in case he spoke heresy, perhaps a light began to dawn in their minds.

For the tax collectors and 'sinners', perhaps a light dawned in their minds that Jesus was talking of them, that they were the something of value that was lost. As the Pharisees and teachers of the law listened, perhaps a light dawned in their minds that these no-hopers were precious in God's sight, they are of value to him, they matter to him therefore they should matter to us.

Which group do you and I fall into? Are you in the group of people that are just beginning to realize, perhaps for the first time, that you are lost, but that you are precious to God? Or are you in the group that is just realizing that lost people matter to God and it is creating in you a complete transformation of your understanding of church life? Which group of people, the tax collectors and 'sinners', or the Pharisees and teachers of the law, do we fall into?

What do we mean by the word 'lost'? The lost sheep tells us that being lost in God's sight means going astray, wandering from the right path in life. The lost coin tells us that being lost in God's sight also means being helpless to save ourselves. The lost son tells us that being lost in God's sight also means being rebellious to the things of God, his love, his riches, his blessing. A common meaning, is that to be lost in God's sight is to be cut off from him. Can you identify these things in your life? You don't have to be the modern equivalent of a tax collector or prostitute or leper to be lost in God's sight. You may have been coming to church for years, you may even be a communicant member of this church and now you are just beginning to realize that you are lost. Something of great value was lost. If today you are identifying yourself as being lost, cut off from God, wandering, helpless and rebellious, then you are that something of great value.

THAT WHICH WAS LOST WAS IMPORTANT ENOUGH TO WARRANT AN ALL OUT SEARCH.

If you lose something of great value, you will search and search till you find it - won't you? You will pull out drawers, look behind the sofa, you will search from top to bottom. We only have to watch the news to see the all out search that is warranted when a child goes missing or is lost.

Look again at the parables. The sheep that is lost, requires from the owner an all out search, because the sheep is precious to him. So the owner searches the highways and byways, every hedge and hole until he finds his lost sheep. The coin that is lost requires from the owner an all out search. The woman lights a lamp and gives her home a thorough cleaning until she finds her lost coin.

In the parable of the lost son, the plots takes on a twist. The father does not go out looking for the son, but we can tell by his actions, that he is always on the look-out for his lost son, respecting the son's freedom yet always waiting for the day when the son would return. Why does the parable of the lost son differ? We may simply say this, the waiting Father has sent the Son. The mission of Jesus Christ, we may sum up from Luke 19, was, to seek and to save what was lost. God the Father has sent Jesus his Son as the search party, to seek and to save what is lost.

If today you are sensing that you are lost, that you are far from God, helpless before God, and rebellious toward God, then Jesus is looking for you, he has reached out to you. He is searching for a way into your heart and life today; Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him and he with me, says Jesus in the book of Revelation. Is Jesus knocking at your door today? Don't pretend that by coming to church every week, Jesus does not need to knock at the door of your life.
These parables tell us of the God who has a hearts desire to know us personally, a hearts desire to rescue people who are lost, to find people who have gone astray, to help people who are helpless, to be reconciled to people who are rebellious. And Jesus Christ, the manifestation of God's love for us, is the key to unlocking all that God desires for us.

Like the sheep, lost people are astray, like the coin lost people are helpless, like the son lost people are foolish. But in the eyes and in the heart of God, lost people are precious to God, lost people matter to God, and Jesus is the undeniable proof of that.

Are you sensing that you are lost today? Are you sensing that you have gone astray, that you are helpless, that you are foolish? Jesus is looking for you, Jesus desires to be in your life. The lost sheep and the lost coin tell us that Christ is looking for us. The lost son tells us that we also need to come to our senses, and recognize our need of Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. For the Father is waiting for us, watching for us, yearning for us to put our trust in his Son, Jesus Christ, that we may be in his presence.

For there is something which awaits us when we take that step of putting our trust in Jesus Christ:

RETRIEVALS RESULT IN REJOICING

When a child is lost, there is great anxiety, and an all out search takes place. When that child is found, there is great rejoicing. The theme of rejoicing is paramount in these three parables:

The owner of the lost sheep, when he finds it, calls all his friends together to have a party. The woman, when she finds her lost coin, calls over her neighbors, and says, Rejoice with me; I have found my lost coin. When the son returns home the father has a feast to celebrate, for his son was dead and is alive, was lost and is found. Then says Jesus, I 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. ... I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.

There is unbounded joy in heaven when one individual person comes to faith in Jesus Christ. If you are a Christian here today, there was a party given in honor of you by the angels of God, to celebrate your homecoming. And this is what awaits all who come to their senses and open the door of their lives, and welcome Jesus in. The Father unconcerned about his reputation and filled with compassion will run to greet you, he will stoop to embrace you, he will rejoice in your homecoming.
And part of the challenge for we who call ourselves Christians, is to rejoice with the heavenly host when one sinner repents, for this is the birthday party which truly matters. Joy ought to be the natural expression over own salvation, and over the salvation of one sinner who repents, yet I believe that many people are turned off the Christian faith by the lack of joy that ought to be so naturally evident in the lives of Christians.

Some would say that there are two types of people in this world - those who are Irish, and those who would like to be. Right statement, but wrong analogy. There are two types of people in the world. Those who are Christians and those who are not. And I believe that in this building here this morning, there are many somethings of value that are lost, there are many precious lives that are cut off from God. But God has done something about it. He has sent his search party, his Son Jesus Christ to find you, to rescue you, to help you, to reconcile you to God. But he is not going to force you, you have to come to your senses, and repent, and entrust your lives to Jesus Christ. The son said to himself, I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: "Father I have sinned against you and against heaven.

It does cost to follow Jesus Christ. You have to admit your guilt, your sin. Your life will change, your priorities will change. But look, it costs more not to follow Jesus, for you are rejecting the only hope there is in this life, you are rejecting the God who has created you in his own image, and to whom you are precious in his sight.

A sinner found is cause to celebrate. The Father's forgiveness is total and immediate. Retrievals result in rejoicing, because that which was lost was important enough to warrant an all out search, because something or someone of great value was lost.