Jesus Saves The Lost
Sermon Notes
Introduction:
This morning, we’re continuing our walk through the entire Story of Scripture and we’re taking our time through the life and teaching of Jesus. Today, we’re going to look at 3 very familiar parables that Jesus taught. They all have a theme of something being lost. Now I don’t know about you, but losing things highly bothers me. To the point where Kacy and I will get in arguments because I am just so in my feelings about something being lost. It doesn’t even have to be something important. I’ll rack my brain and get in a bad mood because one of our son Reid’s pacifiers goes missing. We have a ton of them for the very reason that they are easy to misplace, but dang it I know I used that red one yesterday, now where could it be? And obviously we can all relate to being upset when something that we care about or need gets lost for some time or forever. And then we feel such relief if we are able to find it again. So, today we are going to see that the way we feel about finding lost things is the same way that God feels about saving lost people. That not only is God willing to save us from our sin, He actively pursues us to that end. It is His heart’s desire that we would come back to recognize Him as our Lord and Savior. That’s something that we Christians may overlook at times, and if you’re a skeptic of Christianity it may be a totally different view of God than you have. But today we’ll see how Jesus himself described the heart and mindset of God when it comes to those who are lost. We’re gonna be in Luke 15 today.
We’ll explain the context of this chapter as we go. But I will give you a brief description of Parables like Jesus uses in this passage. We did a sermon series on Jesus’ parables a few years ago and the title of that series gives us a good definition. We called it Stories to Live By. Parables then are just stories used to teach a point. They highlight truths in a way that makes them easier to understand. Let’s take a look.
All the tax collectors and sinners were approaching to listen to him. 2 And the Pharisees and scribes were complaining, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.”
These verses introduce the 2 audiences that Jesus is addressing. The sinners who are flocking to him and the Pharisees that are complaining about him. This gives us some interesting application for our lives. We know that Jesus was sinless and not some kind of compromiser. But at the same time, He was still someone that the most sinful people in Israel would flock toward. They knew He was teaching truth about God but didn’t feel scared off by that instead were attracted to it. That’s a hard line for us to toe sometimes. We want to reach out to those in our lives that don’t know Jesus, but we often feel pulled into their sinful way of living life if we’re not careful. But as Jesus shows here, we aren’t called to completely isolate away from such people. We’ll see Jesus’ strategy in this chapter. He’s honest about the nature of sin and lostness, but also gracious about God being a solution for that sin.
The Pharisees, however, don’t see this distinction. They are all about keeping the letter of the law to the fullest. So they see Jesus in these situations and think he must be in error. They think anyone who truly follows God wouldn’t dare associate with the lost in such a way. We’ve got two audiences here that need to learn two different lessons. Let’s look at how Jesus does this so expertly.
3 So he told them this parable: 4 “What man among you, who has a hundred sheep and loses one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open field and go after the lost one until he finds it? 5 When he has found it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders, 6 and coming home, he calls his friends and neighbors together, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, because I have found my lost sheep!’ 7 I tell you, in the same way, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous people who don’t need repentance.
Jesus’ parables used examples that his audience would be able to relate to easily. This is no different. People in Israel would have seen shepherds and flocks of sheep all the time.
Two key takeaways from this
1. God doesn’t disparage the lost but graciously seeks them out
A Pharisee shepherd would have noticed that he only had 99 sheep and simply focused on the sheep’s stupidity or lack of obedience. Serves him right to get lost, guess he’ll get what’s coming to him. Instead, the shepherd goes after the sheep until he finds it and brings it back into the fold. God isn’t in heaven looking down at all the non-Christians and rubbing his hands together relishing how many ways He’s gonna be able to punish them. He’s actively pursuing the lost. That’s why he calls us as Christians, the church, to go and make disciples. You can be certain that anyone you share the Gospel with would be welcomed back into God’s grace if they accept it. (that’s a joyful thought). This is taught throughout scripture
2 Peter 3:9 The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.
Ezekiel 18:23 Have I any pleasure in the death of the wicked, declares the Lord God, and not rather that he should turn from his way and live?
2. Those close to God celebrate the lost being found
The shepherd doesn’t just find the sheep, carry him back, and chuck it back with the rest of the flock. He has a party, he thinks that sheep’s life is worth celebrating and so do his friends. God feels the same way about you and I, and we should feel that same way about other people knowing God. You can see how Jesus has already taught a lesson to both of his audiences here. He’s showing that sin separates us or “loses” us from God, and that we all need to be brought back to God. He also teaches that if we aren’t willing to celebrate that, it should make us question if we have a right relationship with God ourselves.
He repeats these points in verses 8-10 using a woman looking for a lost coin in her house as the example. It again shows her desperation to recover her lost coin. Then he moves to probably his most known parable, maybe rivaled with the Good Samaritan but that’s it. We know it as the Story of the Prodigal or Lost Son. We’ll see that that name is either shortsighted or secretly genius depending on your point of view.
So I’m going to summarize the first half of the story because most of us have heard it many times. But let me make sure we highlight a couple things.
· This man has 2 sons, it’s important that we keep that in mind
· The younger son asking for his inheritance early is essentially him saying to his dad that he wished he would just die already. Highly rebellious thing for him to do.
· The picture of him destitute, alone, and working/living around pigs is supposed to convey the lowest of the low that a Jewish person could go through.
· He then recognizes that he has badly sinned against the father and is willing to go back and be a slave for him, that he doesn’t deserve to be called son anymore.
The story highlights that while Jesus was a friend of sinners, it wasn’t because he merely overlooked sin. He shows the depths of sin and who it is that we sin against.
20 So he got up and went to his father. But while the son was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion. He ran, threw his arms around his neck, and kissed him. 21 The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight. I’m no longer worthy to be called your son.’
22 “But the father told his servants, ‘Quick! Bring out the best robe and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. 23 Then bring the fattened calf and slaughter it, and let’s celebrate with a feast, 24 because this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found!’ So they began to celebrate.
Main takeaways:
The compassion of the father as he runs to him and embraces him. Cultural understanding adds to this. Grown men didn’t run places back then. It was undignified, they’d have to hike up their clothes like they were on Downton Abbey or something. It was shameful for the man to do this, especially to go embrace his rebellious and filthy son. But just like the shepherd and the woman with her coin, the father can’t help but to pursue his lost son, even if other people wouldn’t understand.
The overflow of grace and celebration from the Father. Not only does he welcome his son back. He gives him gifts and starts prepping for a party. Remember this kid just completely squandered around a third of this man’s entire estate and told him that he wasn’t dying fast enough for his liking. My favorite detail of this story is that the son tries to grovel and says that he’s no longer worthy of being his son. And the Father just hand waves it and ignores it planning the party.
That teaches an incredible Gospel truth. The son’s place in the family didn’t have anything to do with his worthiness. Hear me today, your and my place in the family of God has nothing to do with your or my worthiness. None of us are worthy of being found by God, but thankfully Jesus is and we gain salvation through his worthiness.
We’ve focused a lot on the finding and saving of those who are clearly lost in these parables, but we’ve only made passing reference to Jesus’ other audience at this moment, the scribes and Pharisees. But we see Jesus’ genius as a teacher here. He’s lulled the Pharisees into a false sense of security. But he’s gonna introduce the character that drives home his main point in all of these stories.
25 “Now his older son was in the field; as he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. 26 So he summoned one of the servants, questioning what these things meant. 27 ‘Your brother is here,’ he told him, ‘and your father has slaughtered the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.’
We so often focus on the son squandering wealth and sitting in the pig sty that we forget about this older brother. But Jesus opened the parable by making sure that we knew this man had two sons. Keep in mind again the two main points from the other parables. God doesn’t disparage the lost but graciously seeks them out. And those close to God celebrate the lost being found. So here comes older brother up to the homecoming celebration.
28 “Then he became angry and didn’t want to go in. So his father came out and pleaded with him.
There’s a ton packed into just this verse. We focus so much on the Father’s run out to the younger brother. It reminds us of the shepherd or the woman’s desperate search for their lost things. But the same dynamic is happening right here. The older brother refuses to celebrate the return of his younger brother, but the Father goes out to him. He pursues this son in the same way he pursued his younger one.
This gives us a beautiful reminder that God is in the business of pursuing people. No matter how we are missing out on relationship with Him or rejecting Him, He is willing to come to us in that rebellion in order to bring us back. Let’s see why the older brother is so mad and why the lesson he learns may actually be the central lesson of this entire passage.
29 But he replied to his father, ‘Look, I have been slaving many years for you, and I have never disobeyed your orders, yet you never gave me a goat so that I could celebrate with my friends. 30 But when this son of yours came, who has devoured your assets with prostitutes, you slaughtered the fattened calf for him.’
Look at the mindset that the older son comes to his father with. It’s dripping with self-righteousness. He talks about how he has been slaving for his father and not ever disobeying. And because of his supposed great service, he expects that he should be given more and celebrated. He thinks that the Father is holding out on him and blessing this rebellious son instead of him. You can see why he is the stand-in for the Pharisees in this story. The Pharisees were all about self-righteousness. They thought they kept the Law so fully that God had no choice but to bless and accept them. And they would look around and see people and judge them as they did Jesus in this story.
But Jesus is trying to show them that their treatment of God is actually not that different than how the younger brother treated the Father. Both sons in this parable just see their Father as someone to get something from. The younger brother wants what is coming to him early before the Father dies. The older brother will stay around and act obediently, but he essentially wants payment from the Father for doing so. Neither son demonstrates a love for their Father that in any way resembles the love that He shows to them in his forgiveness and grace. Let’s see the Father’s response then unpack how we are so often tempted to go older brother in our relationship with God.
31 “‘Son,’ he said to him, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. 32 But we had to celebrate and rejoice, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’”
You could see how all this behavior from his sons might lead the Father to run out of patience and just throw his hands up at both of them (that’s it no one gets a party, there how’s that?). But he doesn’t act that way. He graciously shows the brother that what he should be valuing is the relationship he can enjoy with his Father. This opens up all things to him. The father isn’t a slave driver looking for blind devotion and being stingy with blessing. The son can enjoy the blessings of the Father because he is his son and he can enjoy the presence of his Father. I also love the reinforcing of the character of God here. The Father HAD to celebrate and rejoice the return of the younger son, He had to. Not only because He loves the lost son, but because his return literally takes him from death to life. That’s the Gospel picture here. Returning to God through the Gospel isn’t just a good thing to do in life and give you some momentary solace. It’s the way that we become right with God and spend eternity with Him instead of in death and punishment for our sins. That’s why the lost being found is worthy of a huge celebration. (baptism class plug)
So what’s the takeaway for us here. First of all, if you’re a skeptic here today, you can be the lost one that is found and whose return is celebrated today. That’s not because you’re uniquely sinful and bad. All of us who are Christians in here had that moment where we realized we needed to be returned to good favor with God by the Gospel. Today can be that day for you and we would love to celebrate that with you, because it is celebrating the transition from death to life.
For the Christians in the room, let’s remember the two key lessons of these parables and personalize them. If God doesn’t disparage the lost but instead actively pursues them, what’s our excuse for not doing so? I know the world is crazy and sin seems to be more and more celebrated. That’s even more reason why we should be seeking out those in our lives that we can bring back into the fold of God. We know the stakes and we know the glorious and celebration that that decision brings. Let’s be about that in our everyday lives.
Secondly, as believers and followers of God. We are called to celebrate his work in this world and not be angered by it like the older brother. Now most likely you’re not tempted to be mad when a sinful person accepts Christ, if you have that certainly is something to repent from, but we can all admit that there are times when God seems to do things for other people when we want Him to do things for us.
You’re hoping for a new job and someone else gets one instead, your marriage is difficult but another couple just keep getting good things in theirs, we could do tons of other examples. These situations are so hard because they put us at odds with people we care about (we want to celebrate with them, but it just reminds us of our pain) and it puts us at odds with God. If He’s in control then we have to reconcile why other people around us are getting what we want while we don’t. Are we praying weird or something? Are we confusing God? If you’re being honest this morning you can see areas of your life where you are older brothering right now. But that’s treating God like some kind of ATM, when we’re called to live with Him in every moment as our loving father.
That’s why God calls us to live out our faith in the church. When we try to live it on our own, we start to look at other Christians as rivals for God’s blessing. We act like we have to vie for God’s attention and then get bitter outside the party when other’s are celebrating. In the church we learn to see each other as a family. And when a family has a party, everyone can enjoy it, whether the party is for you or for someone else. It’s a much better way to live.