Lost and Found

Luke 15:1-32

Intro:

On February 10, 1996, a 38-year-old security guard at a Pennsylvania middle school convinced then 14-year-old Tanya Kach to leave her father and live with him. For the next ten years, the security guard kept Tanya in the home he shared with his elderly parents.

Throughout the years after Tanya's disappearance, her father desperately tried to find her. He posted her picture several thousand times on flyers and milk cartons. To keep her from running away, Tanya's captor convinced her that no one cared that she was gone—that her parents weren't even looking for her. He told her: "You're stupid. You're immature. Nobody cares about you but me."

Eventually, the security guard became so confident in her loyalty to him that he allowed her to leave the house for short periods of time while he was at work. Through these daily excursions, Tanya became friends with Joseph Sparico, the owner of a local Deli Mart. In March of 2006, Tanya finally confessed her true identity to Sparico, who shared the information with his son—a retired police officer. Before long, Tanya was rescued and reunited with her father. Commenting on the girl's situation, Sparico said, "She wanted to be wanted, that's all."

Tanya's father, Jerry, was overjoyed to see her. "It was exactly 10 years, one month, and 11 days," he said, "and there wasn't a day that went by that I didn't think of her. I just say thank you, there is a God, and he brought my little girl back home."

Tanya, too, was delighted to learn that her father had never given up looking for her. "He's crying; I'm crying. All he kept saying was, 'I got my baby,'" she said, describing their reunion. "I'm touching blood, and I get to say, 'I love you, Dad.'"

Daniel Lovering, "Woman Missing since She Was 14 Is Found," news.yahoo.com (3-23-06); submitted by David Slagle, Atlanta, Georgia

What have you lost recently? In the past weeks I have lost my cell phone and then the earpiece… When I lose something I immediately begin the “what do I do next?” process. I also have experienced the relief of finding what I have lost. Lost things distress us but what about when that which is lost is a person? The whole dynamic changes.

What I want to say: Lost people mean much to God and they should matter to us. When Christians don’t want to associate with “sinners” something is seriously wrong with our understanding of what we are to be about. Finding the lost is cause for celebration! In these parables Jesus clearly defines the purpose and result of having a heart like God’s.

I. Search and rescue is God’s plan (:1-2)

ILLUS> In 2002, the U.S. Coast Guard made 54,609 rescue trips by boat or aircraft, saving 3,661 lives.

The Search and Rescue Team motto: "This we do so others may live."

For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.” Luke 19:10 ESV

A. Sinners are attracted to Jesus (:1)

1. Why? They were attracted to Jesus in three ways:

a) He spoke plainly without pretense

b) He said what they longed to hear: God loves you – even though you can never be good enough to please Him

c) He accepted them as they were – there is no expectation of cleaning up a sinner’s sin before acceptance.

2. When God’s word is plainly taught, people want to hear it.

a) E.g. People hunger for any word that might be from God. Last Sunday the Dalai Lama spoke to over 10,000 people in Millenium Park. What were they looking for? Many of the people interviewed said they were looking for peace.

B. Those who are self-righteous resent Christ’s availability to sinners (:2)

1. The Pharisees were the most popular of three religious parties (along with the Essenes and Sadducees) that existed in Israel at the time of Jesus. They descended from a group called “the pious” which came into existence to oppose the paganizing policies of Antiochus Epiphanes.

2. How ironic that those who sought to please God by their good behavior were the chief opponents of Jesus

3. (:2) They continually complained about Jesus because He received Sinners (emphasis in Gr.)

And as Jesus reclined at table in the house, behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and were reclining with Jesus and his disciples. And when the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” Matthew 9:10-11 ESV

In response to their hostile ignorance to God’s heart, Jesus tells three parables about lost things.

II. The lost matter to God! (:3-32)

A. The lost sheep (:3-7)

1. One lost sheep arrests the shepherd’s attention

a) The shepherd goes after the one that is lost at great risk to himself

b) Of course Jesus, the Great Shepherd, put Himself at the ultimate risk – he died to rescue the lost

c) The Greek indicates that the shepherd still continues to do so – this was not a one time thing.

d) The lost one is so significant to the Shepherd that the 99 are left alone while the shepherd goes to find the one lost sheep

e) The shepherd persists his pursuit until he finds the lost sheep

2. (:5-7) Successful rescue brings joy in heaven

a) The joy is personal to the shepherd and shared with others in a celebration

b) The 99 are “righteous” who believe that they are in with God (i.e. self-righteous)

B. The lost coin (:8-10)

1. The woman lost what amounted to a days’ wage

2. The search is desperate and careful

a) She lights a lamp, moves the furniture and sweeps out the house

3. The successful search results in joy

a) The woman calls her friends to tell them of her relief

b) (:10) In the same way, the angels participate in the celebration of the found sinner (High 5’s all around?)

c) We ought to be less restrained in our response to the salvation of a sinner

C. The lost son (:11-32)

1. This is one of the best known of all Bible stories

a) It is striking because the human drama grabs us all.

2. The son’s character flaws are revealed

a) Foolishness – demanding his inheritance before his father is dead

b) The “distant” country is anywhere away from the presence of the father- Jesus emphasized the word “distant”

c) The son squandered what he had on his sensual pleasures - Kind of like going to Las Vegas today

3. To survive he hired himself out just to get food and was sent to feed pigs

a) He was so destitute that even pig’s food seemed attractive

4. (:17-19) the deepening crisis forced an awakening

a) He came to himself (KJV)

b) All along he was blaming circumstances, his faithless friends and probably his father for his condition

c) But now he ran out of blame and had to admit the true source of his problem: himself

d) (:18-19) the plan: repent – a total change of heart

e) Without a change of heart there can be no change of condition

5. (:20-24) only where there is repentance can there be a celebration

a) In our day we so desperately want to be fair that we even applaud sin just so a person does not have to feel shame. When we do not allow a person to confront their sin, they cannot be healed. E.g. when an unmarried woman gets pregnant, we throw her a shower as we would for a woman who has been virtuous. Why should anyone be virtuous if sin is applauded?

b) But repentance changes everything. It does not do away with the sin but it releases the sinner. The son received a new position which he did not have before

6. (:25-32) The elder son’s bitterness at the redemption of the younger son is the main point

a) We usually thing the father’s readiness or the rebellious son’s repentance is the main point

b) Jesus was helping the Pharisees and Scribes to see their cold hearts in light of God’s compassion – while everyone was celebrating this fellow was moping about.

III. God wants you to feel the intensity of His heart regarding the spiritually lost

A. Those who are self-righteous exhibit a cold-hearted arrogance toward the lost

1. A self-righteous person has no pity for the lost – they even prefer that the lost remain lost

ILLUS> Seven Hindu states in India have passed laws forbidding the Dalits (Untouchables) to convert. (Christianity Today, 5/07, p.17)

2. Does not realize that he himself might be lost

3. Does not remember when he, himself was lost

4. Do you have any unsaved friends or do you only hang out with Christians?

5. Do you want (or invite) any unsaved people to come to church with you? Why not?

B. The lost are in a desperate plight

ILLUS> On the way to the Men’s Retreat we made a wrong turn. Our van full of guys exhibited typical male attitudes toward being lost: How bad can it be? We’ll figure it out somehow. Don’t ask for directions. We could have been in big trouble!

1. The sheep and the boy are in danger because they are lost

2. They each needed someone to find them

3. A person who is spiritually lost is in the greatest danger of all – eternal separation from God.

4. If you do not care about the lost, you do not understand what hell is.

C. God is intensely determined to rescue the lost

1. These days we often call the unsaved people who have an interest in spiritual things “seekers”. God is the Greatest Seeker.

2. That there are lost people grieves the heart of God

3. All other matters are put aside

e.g. I am always impressed with the amount of time, energy and resources that spring into action when someone is lost in the wilderness or stranded on a mountain or endangered by a coal mining accident.

a) All the intense activity communicates one thing: a soul is precious

b) When our values are in tune with God’s values, we highly value people!

4. No sacrifice is too great to find the lost

a) That is why Jesus gave up His life on the Cross – to enable the lost to be saved from hell.

b) That is why, for instance, we fund the Kids Quest Awana program, hold a Church Picnic, do a Hope Fest outreach and in many other ways reach out to the spiritually lost

D. The joy of heaven is released by the rescue of sinners

1. In each case there is a celebration over the finding of that which was lost.

2. The Church should be a party place in that we ought to be always celebrating when someone comes to faith in Christ.

Concl:

What will you do from now on to reach out to some spiritually lost person that God has put in your life? Will you meet them for coffee? Sit and talk with them? Will you try to meet one person to show him how attractive Jesus is?