The Lost Coin

I am so glad that we could be here this morning. It is a such a good day to be here. It is hard to believe that we are quickly approaching to summer.

One of the joys of this time of year though is that we get to be outside a lot more everyday. It is always nice to not have to be stuck inside the house or the office.

One of the challenges for me when this happens is I constantly have to keep track of keys.

The Lost Keys

Between car keys and church keys I always have to be aware of where my keys are. I don’t know about you I have a bad habit of leaving keys in the wrong places.

I mean we have a bowl right by the front door that the keys are supposed to go into, but they may or not make it in there all the time.

One of the most common problems that I have is I have a tendency to leave the church keys in the pocket of the pants I was wearing and I forget to take them out. The next day then I am looking all over for them.

Now if you have already read today’s passage you get where this story is going. We can all relate to the struggle of losing important items. We all have experienced the pain of having to look for something that is lost. That is where we pick up today’s Passage.

Luke 15:8–10 NIV

8 “Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins and loses one. Doesn’t she light a lamp, sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it? 9 And when she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost coin.’ 10 In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”

Jesus Repeats the story

This is a common practice for Jesus that he will present two versions of the same story or idea that he wants to get across. This really isn’t a strange idea. It is a good idea to share multiple points of view of a story or parable to help it connect to different people.

One key thing about this passage is if you think about it is that we have the Good shepherd who is a male and a job that many could relate to.

Shepherds were also not commonly appreciated within Jewish culture because they were often considered unclean and would have been looked down upon by the pharisees. The second story presents us with a women searching and looking for her lost coin. Another member of Jewish culture who would have been looked down upon. Also given the panic of one coin being missing we can also gain some other insight into information about this woman and her situation.

The value of the coin

The passage lists the as ten silver coins. These coins were also known as Drachmas. This would have been one days wages. All ten coins would have been ten days worth of work and the loss of one would be a big hardship.

Knowing what we do about the nature of the coin and its value with the loss of one coin would bring greatly impact the family. These coins were probably the entire savings of this family. Money was not abundant for them.

This women was a frugal women and knew the value of the coin.

Think of it this way. Imagine you lost an entire days wages in a moment. Would you not be looking all over for it. Not sure. Let’s take the average hourly rate today. We will go with $15 an hour. At an 8 hour work day. That means you would have lost about $120 dollars somewhere in the house. How many of you would be looking everywhere if you miss placed that amount of money.

Every dollar counts and missing a days wages can really hurt when it comes to paying your bills. This is why the women looks with a sense of Urgency. It helps us to see the main point of this story that Jesus is presenting.

It is How she searched for the coin

It isn’t about the fact that she was looking for the coin it is HOW she was searching for the coin.

The story of the Good shepherd emphasizes the fact that the shepherd abandons the 99 to search for the one. It is about the need to search for that one. This story the one is still lost but the women searches with a sense of urgency and effectiveness.

She lights a lamp

This is an intersting aspect of her searching for the coin because it helps us understand her situation. A typical house of a women who would have been on the poorer side there home would have been one room but it would often be windowless or just have a small window. That means even in the middle of the day you would have to light a lamp to search the house. She doesn’t hesitate to do this. She is searching carefully looking everywhere to find this coin. Her best chance is in the light.

She sweeps the house

The floors of this home would have been dirt. It would have been easy for the coin to fall on the ground and blend in as it got dirty from being on the floor making it harder to see. If she sweeps the floor she hopes that it will move the coin and be found. This upheaval of her house is a small price to pay to find that missing coin.

This careful search for the coin is important. She is not leaving any opportunity to find the coin lost. She needs to find that coin to reclaim it and to be at peace in finding it.

Those lost keys

Think back to those lost keys. Or the times you may have lost them. How often do we tear apart our homes or other places because we have to find them. We know that we need them. We search and search because they are valuable items to us. We don’t want to lose them.

The Keys aren’t lost because of anything the keys did. It is in my own mistakes that it has happened. This is the person who is pushed away, been hurt or has suffered at the hands of the church and other Christians. This is where the coin becomes fundamentally different than the sheep. The sheep got lost because of its own foolishness.

The Coin or keys are lost because of our neglect.

We want to find them. We need to find them. We need to help bring healing and restoration. This is important if we are the ones who have done the hurting or if others have done the hurting we can restore the coin or keys to its rightful place. When you do find them you can’t help but be overjoyed.

It’s time to Rejoice

Call up your neighbors. Call your friends. You have found your keys!

Have you ever thought about doing that, when you have lost your keys?

How do you think people would respond. I have to be honest I am willing to bet that this women had called up her friends and they probably were a little confused. I bet though if she called up her family they were also excited because the coin had been found.

Imagine celebrating something so small something so insignificant as a coin being found. A day’s wages. Now compare that to the someone coming to know Jesus.

Have you ever thought about the things that we celebrate and rejoice over. I can only begin to imagine what the party is like in heaven when one of us comes to know God and commits ourselves to following after him.

I think about times in my life when I have either helped or seen people come to Christ and the celebration and joy that follows. It is overwhelming. It is hard to believe how infectious it is. The Joy the rejoicing in knowing that one more person has come to faith in Christ. That leads me to this thought.

Let’s live in a state of Rejoicing

The goal should be to be in this state always. Now I know that there will be days that we don’t have to joy of seeing someone come to Christ. Yet, there is a hope in me that says we should want that. That we should be longing for that. That we should be rejoicing and praising God for the opportunity to reach one more person for Him. That we are called to search for the one lost sheep, the one lost coin, and when we find them its party time. Not only is it party time it is time to celebrate their coming to Christ but it is time to celebrate the work God does in us. It is all done for his glory.

Search and Celebrate

We are called to be a church that searches and celebrates. This is laying heavy on my heart that we need to be a church that pursues him and the lost sheep and coin. We are not to be sitting by and watching the world go by and just doing church. This is not what he has called us to. He has not called us to sit back and just enjoy a sermon each week. He has called us to reach out to our neighbor, our community, our friends, and family. The gospel is transformative and we need to share that with others in our lives. This is our calling this is our mandate to search the house to light the lamp to sweep the floor in desperation of helping to find that one.

Let’s Pray.