Lost and Found
Introduction: Please give attention to the Word of God, as found in the 15th chapter of Luke:
“Now the tax collectors and “sinners” were all gathering around to hear him. But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.”
Then Jesus told them this parable: “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? And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.’ 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.
“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? And when she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbors together and says, ‘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.”
Jesus continued: “There was a man who had two sons. The younger one said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of the estate.’ So he divided his property between them.
“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. After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything.
“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! I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired men.’ So 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.
“The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’
“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.”
Luke 15 is one of the best-loved chapters in the Bible. It tells of a lost sheep, a lost coin, and a lost son. The longest of the three parables, known as The Prodigal Son, is surely one of the greatest short stories ever told. Since it is a story of love, grace, and forgiveness, there is almost no one who doesn’t like it. Fundamentalists like it because it portrays the awful consequences of sin in a powerful and unforgettable way. Evangelicals like it because it speaks of God’s love for lost sinners. Even religious liberals like it because there is no explicit mention of the cross or of blood sacrifice – only forgiveness and restoration. Of course, set in the context of the entire life and ministry of Christ, the cross is implicit here, as it is in all that the evangelist Luke wrote.
If you read sermons or commentaries on Luke 15 you find that sometimes the preacher places the emphasis upon the lostness of the sheep, the coin, and particularly the son. Sometimes the emphasis is placed upon the joyful celebration when each is found. And both of these emphases are valid. But I think Jesus intended for the greatest emphasis to be placed upon the search itself. Look at how the parables are introduced in the first verse: “Now the tax collectors and ‘sinners’ were all gathering around to hear him. But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, ‘This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.’ Then Jesus told them this parable …”
All through the book of Luke there is a recurring theme which is finally stated in its clearest form by Jesus himself in chapter 19, verse 10: “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost.” The religious muckety-mucks of his day were constantly scandalized by the fact that Jesus reached out to the riffraff of society. He would share a cup with a Samaritan, and a woman at that. He would go to a tax collectors home, like Zacchaeus, and even eat with him. He would touch lepers and speak grace and forgiveness to prostitutes. He befriended the racial outcasts and the religious rejects. To the Pharisees, these habits, along with the fact that he did a lot of his miracles on the Sabbath, were all the evidence they needed to conclude that he was demon-possessed and worthy of death.
You see, the religious leaders of Jesus’ day believed in separation from sin. That’s OK, and frankly not a bad idea, unless separation from sin means also separation from sinners. Jesus believed in separation from sin. In fact, of all the men who ever lived, he is the only one who was completely separated from it in his own personal life, for he was without sin. But he flatly rejected the notion that believers should hold themselves separate from sinners. In fact, his whole life and ministry was a paradigm of personal involvement with sinners, for how could he help them find release from their bondage to sin if he had nothing to do with them.
It’s not an accident, by the way, that verse 1 follows immediately after the last verse of chapter 14. After one of the most hard-hitting messages He ever gave on the drastic demands of discipleship (a message offered to the large crowds that were following him), he concluded with these words, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.” Then the very next words are, “Now the tax collectors and ‘sinners’ were all gathering around to hear him. But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered …” There were a few who took to heart his call to discipleship, but they weren’t the clergy. On the contrary, the Pharisees and teachers of the Law only complained more vociferously about his association with the dregs of society.
Keep that in mind as we examine these three searches. First,
The searching shepherd
The shepherd in the story is responsible for 100 sheep, and one of them gets lost.
When a sheep gets lost, it is generally due to its stupidity. Sheep aren’t rebellious creatures; they aren’t headstrong; they aren’t devious. But they are stupid. My dad tells me that when he was a boy growing up near Milacs Lake in Minnesota, he lived on a very small farm and his family owned some sheep. The sheep would follow one another around the pasture, and my Dad would take a stick and hold it out in front of one of the sheep so that animal would have to jump over the stick. Then he would take it away, but all the other sheep would jump when they came to that spot, even though there was nothing there to jump over. They’re stupid animals. They are prone to wander off, curious like cats but not nearly as skilled at finding their way back.
There are also some people who are spiritually lost, not because of rebellion or headstrong attitudes or deviousness, but rather because they are stupid, careless, and not paying attention. They’re just going through life having a good time and oblivious to the fact that someday they will have to reckon with their Creator.
What is God’s attitude toward those who are lost through stupidity or carelessness? Well, I think it is seen in the shepherd’s attitude toward the lost sheep. He doesn’t say, “Dumb sheep! If it’s not going to stay with the flock, it can just tough it out on its own. I’ll give my attention to the 99 who haven’t strayed.” No, he engages in a search, a search that requires focus, perseverance, and tenderness.
The search for a lost sheep requires focus, perseverance, and tenderness. The shepherd goes after the lost sheep single-mindedly. In fact, he leaves the 99 in a safe place and devotes all of his attention to the one. Who are these 99? Well, if we want to press the parable, not always a good idea, we would probably conclude that they represent the Scribes and Pharisees. They were God’s sheep in the sense that he created them and made them part of his flock, Israel. They never left the fold physically, morally, or ecclesiastically, but they were spiritually far away. God is willing to abandon them in favor of that one who may be far away physically, morally, and ecclesiastically, but knows he’s lost and is ready and willing to be rescued by the shepherd.
Not only does the shepherd search with a focus on the one sheep that is lost, but he also searches with perseverance. Verse 4 says he searches “until he finds it.” The shepherd takes the initiative to find the lost sheep and he doesn’t quit until the job is done. The message is clear that God initiates the search for lost sinners, he pursues, he woos, he encourages, he convicts, and he perseveres until the sheep is found.
There is one other aspect of the search that is revealed, and that is tenderness. Jesus says in verse 5, “When he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and goes home.” He doesn’t scold the sheep; he doesn’t discipline it; he doesn’t tie its feet and drag it. Rather he shows tenderness in putting it on his shoulders and carrying it to safety. What a beautiful picture of God’s reception of lost sinners!
We are always filled with tension when we return to someone from whom we have been alienated. Will he rebuke me, insult me, give me the cold shoulder, act indifferently? None of those fears are legitimate when we return to the Father. Jesus longs for us to believe that God is really like the shepherd of our story. The moment we make a real, actual, decisive move toward the Father, he has already received us back.
This past week there were two deaths in our larger church family. Lynn Metzinger’s 87-year-old brother died, as did Ben Mudd’s father. Both of these individuals professed faith in Christ on their deathbeds, which of course, brought great relief and joy to Lynn and Ben because these seemed to be genuine decisions of repentance and faith. But I want you to think with me for a moment about death-bed conversions. If you were God, would you allow them? After all, if a person has been exposed to the Gospel to one degree or another for six, seven, eight decades and never responded, why should God admit them into his family when it’s too late for them to serve or give or witness or pay him back in any way for their salvation? Because that’s the tender and gracious nature of God! Besides, there’s no way anyone could ever “pay him back” for salvation, even if he lived a thousand years.
Now there are two dangerous miscalculations one could make from what I have just said. One is to say, “I think I’ll wait until my deathbed to repent. That way I can have my cake and eat it too.” The problem is that not everyone dies on a bed, surrounded by loving family members who have prayed for years and are willing to share Christ up to the last moment. The one who dies in an accident or of a heart attack will never have such an opportunity.
The other potential miscalculation is the view that a life away from God is analogous to eating cake. It’s more like eating moldy bread. You see, there are consequences for sin built into the moral law of the universe, and a person who turns to God will be forgiven, but he is not going to be automatically released from those consequences when he repents.
I saw an amazing program on TV ten days ago about a woman on death row in Texas. This hardened, drug-crazed woman killed two people with a pickaxe, and she is scheduled to die in the gas chamber next month. During her ten or so years in prison, however, she came to faith in Christ, and unless I am totally without spiritual discernment, this woman is as thoroughly converted as anyone I have ever seen. The love of Christ literally radiated from her face. I would trust her to babysit my child, or my grandchild for that matter (thought I’d just slip in an announcement there). But sadly, she may yet have to die for her crimes. God has forgiven her, accepted her unconditionally, and given her eternal life, but the temporal consequences of her sin still hang over her head.
The third factor we notice in the story of the searching shepherd is that …
The rescue results in joyful celebration. The shepherd doesn’t keep his joy to himself—he calls his friends and neighbors together for a party and says, “Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.” There’s almost nothing more exciting than finding something important that was once lost. We want to tell everyone.
Last January my parents moved from their home in Eureka Springs to Siloam Springs, Arkansas to be near my brother and sister. On moving day Mom cleaned out a special hiding place where she kept a beautiful diamond ring she had inherited from a great aunt and a gold watch my dad inherited from his grandfather, both kept in a little jewelry box made for her by her grandson Andy. She took those things in the car with her and put them in what she thought was a safe place in their new home.
Several days later, however, she noticed that the little jewelry box was missing. She and Dad searched diligently for days, even weeks. Finally, they concluded that one of two things had happened. Either they had mistakenly thrown the box out with all the moving trash, or the workmen who installed the washer and dryer had taken it. Either way it was a terrible blow, not just financially but also to their self-confidence. Eventually Mom prayed that God would give her peace about it all, and the next day she was reading in Ecclesiastes and came across the verse, “there is a time to search and a time to give up.” She took that as God’s counsel to quit looking and just accept what had happened.
About seven months later (last August) we were visiting my folks, and Mom excitedly met us with the news that the day before she had found her jewelry. She herself had hidden it the day they moved in but had completely forgotten where. Actually she had hid it so well that it was only a fluke, humanly speaking, that she looked in that same place again. She wanted all of us to rejoice with her, not only because the valuable items had been recovered, but more in relief that their home had not been violated after all and that she had not been so incompetent as to throw the items in the trash. She not only told us, but she called all her friends so they could rejoice with her. Finding something lost always results in joyful celebration.
The point of the parable is very specific:
The point: There is joy in heaven over one sinner who repents. In fact, Jesus says there is more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over 99 righteous persons who do not need to repent. That seems strange, at least until we wake up to the fact that there are no righteous persons who do not need to repent, so Jesus must be speaking of those who think they are righteous and therefore refuse to repent. In other words, he is speaking of people like the Pharisees and experts in the Law who believe they have earned a right standing with God through their scrupulous law-keeping. Friends, God takes more joy in a scumbag who repents than he does in a moral, tithing, Republican member of the Lions’ Club who is counting on his good works to get him to heaven.
Now the second story is about a woman searching for a lost coin.
The searching woman
The first parable concerned one lost sheep out of a hundred. This second one deals with one lost coin out of ten. This time it is a woman who loses the coin in her house. The silver coin was basically a laboring person’s wage for one day, so it was not insignificant to a poor woman. Some scholars have pointed out that the mark of a married woman in Palestine was a head-dress made of ten silver coins linked together by a silver chain. If one of those had fallen off, this woman might have been searching as if she had lost her wedding ring.
Whereas we noted that the sheep generally gets lost because of its own stupidity, the coin is lost through no fault of its own, but because of someone else’s carelessness.
When a coin is lost, it is due to someone else’s carelessness. I think there is a hint here that some people are spiritually lost, not because of their own stupidity and carelessness but because of that of their parents, their teachers, their friends, maybe even the culture in which they are reared. I don’t mean to suggest that they are completely innocent in their lostness—no one ever is—but at least they never set out to run away or to rebel. They are like a coin that just slips through the cracks in the floorboards.
What is Jesus’ attitude to such people? Does he say, “That’s tough. They had choices, and they didn’t take advantage of them.”? No, when we are lost through the carelessness of others, God still seeks us. He is like the woman who searches for the lost coin with diligence and perseverance.
The search requires diligence and perseverance. She lights a lamp (apparently because houses in those days had few windows), she carefully sweeps the floor (generally just a dirt floor covered with dry reeds), and she searches diligently, once again “until she finds it.” And when she does, once again …
The rescue results in joyfulness. In fact, she too calls her friends and neighbors together and says, “Rejoice with me, I have found my lost coin.”
The point? Once again, Jesus makes the application explicit: “there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.” This is almost the identical point made in the first parable except that the Pharisees are not alluded to this time. But clearly they are being addressed, for they themselves had a saying to the effect that “There is joy in heaven over one sinner who is obliterated before God.”[i] I remind you again that Jesus offers these stories as his response to their complaint that “this man welcomes sinners and eats with them.” Far from apologizing for doing so, Jesus is intent on driving home the point that God himself rejoices, as do the angels, when even one sinner repents.
Quickly we move on to the third of the trilogy of stories.
The searching father
The parable of the Prodigal Son is perhaps the most famous Jesus ever spoke. But it is important for us to realize that this parable’s purpose is basically the same as that of the previous two—to explain God’s attitude toward lost sinners.
By the way, I had a good sermon outline for this parable:
He went to the dogs.
He ate with the hogs.
Homeward he jogs.
But Dick suggested I throw it on the logs, so I’ll stick with what’s in your bulletin.
When a son is lost, it is often due to willful rebellion. In the first parable the sheep is lost due to stupidity. In the second the coin is lost due to someone‘s carelessness. But when a son is lost, it is often due to willful rebellion; certainly that is true in this case. The son known as the Prodigal comes to his father and says, “Give me my share of the estate.” He doesn’t want to wait until his father dies, which would be the normal time for such a division of property. In fact, some scholars have suggested that in that culture even asking for one’s inheritance while his father was still living was a way of saying, “I wish you were dead.” The father, knowing that the son has made up his mind and knowing that the school of hard knocks is the only way this particular child will learn, divides his estate prematurely and gives him his portion.
This young man has no concept of delayed gratification. He wants it all now, and he wants it all now. He doesn’t put some of his inheritance into savings; he doesn’t keep some of it in land and cattle. It says in verse 13 that “the younger son got together all he had.” He liquidates everything so he can spend it when and where he pleases. In addition, “he sets off for a distant country.” Distance from his father means independence; distance means freedom; distance will allow him to be his own man, to make his own fortune, to chart his own course. As Swindoll puts it,
He has high hopes of loose-living, fun-loving, no-strings-attached, unaccountable excitement stretching out in front of him. With parental authority and religious restrictions blown to the winds, he finds a place to live, makes some quick friends, pulls out all the stops, and begins to drain each 24-hour period of every drop of self-gratifying pleasure. Let ‘er rip![ii]
How many young people have followed the path of this young man! Perhaps there are some in this very service who are following it right now. I know many of you adults have been there in the past. Dozens of you have shared in your membership testimonies how you ran away, either literally or figuratively, from parental authority and God’s authority, and virtually everyone with the same result as this younger brother.
You see, distance from the father inevitably leads to ruin and despair. Without the love and discipline of the father in his life, the son squanders his wealth in wild living. Those gambling boats are so inviting, the drugs are so available, the friends are so much fun, the women are so beautiful, the parties are so exciting—until the money is gone. Then the friends disappear, the women are no longer interested, the party invitations no longer come, the drug dealers demand payment in advance, the boats no longer extend credit. And on top of it all a recession sets in. Jobs are unavailable. The food pantries close down.
The Prodigal Son has no choice. He hires himself out to a foreigner, who gives him the only job available—feeding pigs. This is not the life-long dream of the average Jewish boy; in fact, it is as bad as it gets. He is perpetually hungry, but they won’t even let him eat the pods he is feeding the pigs. That’s like working at McDonalds and they won’t even let you eat a leftover hamburger.
Friends, the Devil always pays in counterfeit money.
Sin will take you further than you want to go;
Slowly but wholly taking control.
Sin will keep you longer than you want to stay;
Sin will cost you more than you want to pay.
Then we read those powerful words, “When he came to his senses.” Some people never do. Some people come to the end of their rope, literally, before they come to their senses. They take their own life, or they destroy their life through some violent crime. At least this boy comes to his senses and remembers his father. He is reminded that even his father’s servants have food to spare. He determines to return. “I will set out and go back to my father.” But he’s not going back the same as he left.
The return of the son requires repentance and humility. This step is not found in the previous two stories, because a sheep and a coin are not moral creatures. But a son is. The prodigal repents, acknowledging his sin against God and against his father. He is sorry not just for what he has lost, but also for what he has done; he has sinned. He humbles himself, acknowledging that he doesn’t deserve to return as a son but is willing to be a hired hand.
Anyone who tries to come to God while trusting in his own dignity or making excuses is in no condition to receive the forgiveness of God. But when we come in repentance and humility, we will receive the same kind of reception the Prodigal receives. It says, “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.”
The search of the father involves love and forgiveness. On first glance you may have missed the fact that the father was searching for his lost son. If he were not, how do you think he saw him while he was still a long way off? The father never forgot his son; he never wrote him off; he never told people who asked him about his family, “I have only one son”; he never stopped loving him. And when the son returns, forgiveness is immediate, unconditional, and final. In fact, the father runs to him (which would have been viewed as strikingly undignified for an elderly oriental) and kisses him (the original reads, “kissed him many times” or “kissed him tenderly”).
The Father doesn’t comment about the son’s long hair or his earrings or his tattoos. He doesn’t even wait for his son to offer to return as a hired servant. He interrupts him with the news that he is being received without probation, without contempt, without embarrassment, and even with honor. Once Lincoln was asked how he was going to treat the rebellious southerners when they had finally been defeated and had returned to the Union. The questioner expected that Lincoln would express dire vengeance, but he answered, “I will treat them as if they had never been away.” That’s the way God is.
The rescue results in joyful celebration. The father floods his son with tokens of acceptance. It starts with orders to bring the best robe (a sign of position), a ring for the son’s finger (a sign of authority), and sandals for his feet (a sign that he is no longer a slave). Not only that, but the fattened calf is called for, and a feast and celebration is ordered. Why? “This son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.” So they begin to celebrate. The point is not stated explicitly in this story as it was in the previous two, but it is no less obvious:
The point: There is joy in the heart of the Father whenever a lost son is found. Think about this issue of joy in heaven. There is no indication that the eternal world rejoices at the secular achievements of men—when a great man wins a Nobel prize, when a great team wins a world championship, when America’s Most Wanted hauls in another fugitive, or even when a church sets another attendance record. But a single lost person found results in triumphant joy in the presence of God.[iii]
Conclusion: Luke 15, and in particular this last parable, has something profound to say to each and every one of us. I want to focus on two kinds of people. If you have run away from home, have been seeking pleasure and satisfaction in the world, and you know that you are spiritually lost, this passage says loud and clear, “God welcomes sinners.” This means you. And he doesn’t just tolerate you. He is searching for you. His heart delights over anyone who recognizes his sin and is willing to accept his love as expressed in the death of Christ on the cross.
A great Jewish scholar has admitted that this is the one absolutely new thing which Jesus taught men about God—that God actually seeks and searches for men. The Jew was willing to grant that if a man came crawling home to God in self-abasement and knelt before God praying for pity, he might find it; but he would never have conceived of a God who went out to search for sinners.[iv] But he does, and he will welcome you home.
On the other hand, perhaps you are one who feels like you have never left home. Maybe you are one of the 99 good sheep who have never strayed too far or one of the 9 coins that never rolled away, or the older brother who claims he never disobeyed the father’s orders and whose story we will examine next Lord’s Day. You are counting on your good works and your attention to religious observances to earn you favor with the Father.
It won’t work. Jesus himself said, “Unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:20). Let me clue you: you can’t exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees on your own, no matter how hard you try, for they were as scrupulous as anyone can possibly be. The only thing you can do is to reject human righteousness altogether and accept the righteousness of Christ as a substitute, which righteousness he offers to everyone who puts his faith and trust in him.
Will you bow your hearts with me and do business with God? If you are a lost Prodigal, far away from home, with no dignity left and hungry for love, won’t you open your heart right now to the Searching Father. He loves you and promises to forgive you and treat you as his own son. If you are self-righteously counting on your good works, won’t you renounce them this moment and trust Christ and him alone?
Tags:
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Lost
[i]. William Barclay, The Gospel of Luke, 207.
[ii] Charles Swindoll, citation lost.
[iii]. Joel Gregory, Gregory’s Sermon Synopses, 163.
[iv]. Barclay, 210