Luke 15:1-10 (3)

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-Well, we’ve made our way to another new chapter...

…in our verse-by-verse exposition of Luke’s gospel.

We’ll be beginning chapter 15 this morning...

And, as always, I would encourage you to...

Turn there

Follow along in your own Bibles.

-This is one of the more familiar...

…chapters of Luke’s gospel.

Mostly because of the parable...

…that we find at the end of it.

It’s that parable that’s...

…most commonly referred to as...

The Parable of the Prodigal Son.

And unlike the final portion of the previous chapter...

…this parable (and the two that precede it) tend to...

Comfort us...

Give us the hope...

…that we’re not outside of the reach...

…of the grace of God.

Do we appreciate such reminders?

Especially after the texts of the last two weeks?

AMEN!

-However, we won’t get to...

…the parable of the Prodigal today.

At best we’re going to...

…make it through the first two...

…and down to Verse 10.

But, don’t despair...

All three of the parables of Chapter 15...

Share the same thesis...

And give us the same encouragement

(You may actually leave here...

…liking me today!)

(That’s been a few weeks, hasn’t it?)

Of course, I’m joking.

We need the whole counsel of God’s word, don’t we?

We need the difficult and the delightful, don’t we?

Amen!

Well alright, let’s read those first 10 verses...

…and ask for the Lord’s help.

Luke 15:1–10 (ESV)

1 Now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear him.

2 And the Pharisees and the scribes grumbled, saying, “This man receives sinners and eats with them.”

3 So he told them this parable:

4 “What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open country, and go after the one that is lost, until he finds it?

5 And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing.

6 And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.’

7 Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.

8 “Or what woman, having ten silver coins, if she loses one coin, does not light a lamp and sweep the house and seek diligently until she finds it?

9 And when she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I had lost.’

10 Just so, I tell you, there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”

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Pray

-Let’s briefly remind ourselves...

…of what we’ve been looking at...

…for the last couple of weeks:

It began back up in Verse 25:

Luke 14:25 (ESV)

25 Now great crowds accompanied him, and he turned and said to them,

Luke 14:26–27 (ESV)

26 “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.

27 Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.

And after giving a couple of illustrative metaphors...

...he summarized the proposition, like this:

Luke 14:33 (ESV)

33 So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.

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-So, if Luke is recording things chronologically...

....as we move into chapter 15...

…then, that means that...

...there were some people in those crowds...

…who, despite those stern and sobering terms...

…were not dissuaded from following him.

In fact, they appear to be...

…pressing in all the more.

Look at Verse 1.

(It’s not who we would think)

Luke 15:1 (ESV)

1 Now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear him.

Before we read on...

…let’s be reminded of how...

…these two groups would have been viewed...

…by the rest of their society:

Consider this commentary:

Luke, Volumes 1 & 2 (Three Parables in One)

In those days tax collectors were social and spiritual outcasts.

Because they were part of the Roman bureaucracy, and because they collected money from fellow Israelites, they were considered traitors to the people of God.

The word “sinners” was a catchall for people who had a notorious reputation for bad behavior—thieves, drunkards, prostitutes, and anyone else who refused to conform to the holy habits of the religious community.

Sinners and the tax collectors were people who almost never went to worship and never seemed to have any interest in following God.

So, let’s be clear about something:

These were NOT good people!

Members of the religious establishment stayed as far away from such people as they could, believing that any contact would contaminate them.

As far as the scribes and Pharisees were concerned, sinners and tax collectors were outside of Israel, outside of the faith, and outside of God.

So, it’s not surprising then...

…what we read in Verse 2:

Luke 15:2 (ESV)

2 And the Pharisees and the scribes grumbled, saying, “This man receives sinners and eats with them.”

Guys, we need to remember, that...

…the Pharisees were (by definition) separatists.

The were the ones “who separated themselves”

(That’s what the word originally meant)

And they advocated for...

…a doctrine of salvation by separation...

Meaning, that they believed that...

...Israel’s salvation would only come...

…when the nation would live up to the call of holiness...

…that God had placed upon them...

…at the time of their inception:

Leviticus 20:26 (ESV)

26 You shall be holy to me, for I the Lord am holy and have separated you from the peoples, that you should be mine.

So, from their perspective...

...here’s Jesus, who, in their eyes, is...

At least a popular Rabbi

Perhaps a candidate for the Messiah...

And he, without trying to hide it...

Luke 15:2 (ESV)

2 ...receives sinners and eats with them.”

(That was a bigger deal at the time)

(It seemed to denote acceptance, fellowship, and association)

So, we can kind of understand...

…why this was such a stumbling block for them, can’t we?

And guys, let’s be clear about something...

...God’s people ARE called to...

…external separation (in some capacity):

2 Corinthians 6:14–7:1 (ESV)

14 Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness?

15 What accord has Christ with Belial? Or what portion does a believer share with an unbeliever?

16 What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; as God said, “I will make my dwelling among them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

17 Therefore go out from their midst, and be separate from them, says the Lord, and touch no unclean thing; then I will welcome you,

18 and I will be a father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to me, says the Lord Almighty.”

So, if this is an extant principle...

...how were the Scribes and Pharisees in error?

Many ways...

But this seemed to be the most fundamental:

1 Since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God.

That’s what they were missing.

They weren’t looking for a holistic holiness...

Merely external!

But Jesus came to...

…fulfill and produce...

…ALL of the holiness, that...

…the Law of God, and the nature of God demanded!

He didn’t come to save...

…those who were already holy (presumably)...

…he came to MAKE the unholy...

…to become holistically holy!

Paul said in...

1 Timothy 1:15 (ESV)

15 ...that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners...

Jesus said back in Chapter 5, Verse 31:

Luke 5:31–32 (ESV)

31 . . . “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.

32 I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.”

That’s why Jesus recieved sinners.

It wasn’t to be...

Tolerant

Accepting.

He doesn’t “accept us the way we are”. . .

(as though his standards are that low)

…He calls sinners to himself...

…but he calls us to REPENTANCE!

And because of that, we don’t make him unclean...

…through our association with him...

He makes us clean!

He makes us truly holy!

That’s what He had come to do!

And you know what?...

...this was always the plan:

Ezekiel 34:11–16 (ESV)

11 “For thus says the Lord God: Behold, I, I myself will search for my sheep and will seek them out.

12 As a shepherd seeks out his flock when he is among his sheep that have been scattered, so will I seek out my sheep, and I will rescue them from all places where they have been scattered on a day of clouds and thick darkness...

14 I will feed them with good pasture, and on the mountain heights of Israel shall be their grazing land. There they shall lie down in good grazing land, and on rich pasture they shall feed on the mountains of Israel.

15 I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I myself will make them lie down, declares the Lord God.

16 I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the injured, and I will strengthen the weak, and the fat and the strong I will destroy...

Guys, think about what Jesus said, when...

…he sought out and brought...

...a tax collector (Zacchaeus) to repentance...

…and then went in to eat with him:

He said:

Luke 19:9–10 (ESV)

9 . . . “Today salvation has come to this house...

10 For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”

That was/is his mission!

That’s what the Father...

…had sent him to do!

And the three stories, that...

…constitute the whole rest of the chapter...

…seem to me, to be meant to...

...illustrate that point.

-Look at the way Luke introduces them in Verse 3:

And notice that he introduces all three stories...

The Lost Sheep

The Lost Coin

The Lost Son...

…with a SINGULAR description.

Luke 15:3 (ESV)

3 So he told them this parable:

That tells us:

1.) He was telling it in response to their grumbling

2.) That the central thesis of all three stories...

…is going to be the same.

(In other words...

They’re all proving the same point)

(So, that means that...

...we need to be careful...

…not to over-allegorize them)

-The first story begins in Verse 4:

Watch how he sets it up...

We’ve seen this methodology...

…a couple of times before:

Luke 15:4 (ESV)

4 “What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open country, and go after the one that is lost, until he finds it?

So, the picture is that of a shepherd...

…who, takes a tally of his sheep...

…only to discover that one of them...

…(one out of a hundred) has gone missing.

So, what does he do?

He leaves the rest of the flock behind...

He goes out into the woods...

And searches diligently until he finds it!

I love this from Philip Ryken:

How different this was from what most of the old Jewish rabbis taught about sin and grace.

According to their understanding of salvation, a sinner had to turn back to God first. It was his act of repentance that would restore God’s favor.

In other words, if a sheep wanted to come under the care of the shepherd, it had to find its way back to the fold. — Ryken

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Now, was that likely to happen?

What usually happened to a stray sheep?

Slaughtered

Starved to death

The shepherd is the one with...

The wisdom

The strength...

…necessary for the sheep’s rescue.

He has to seek out and save the sheep...

And he DOES!!!

Why?

Not merely for economic reason...

But, because he loves the sheep.

Even though it has gone astray.

-We see that being connoted in Verse 5:

Luke 15:5 (ESV)

5 And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing.

That’s a big load to carry

But it’s the only way to get the weary sheep to safety.

And he takes that burden on himself...

Voluntarily

With great Joy!

In giving a similar illustration (Matthew 18)...

…Jesus added:

Matthew 18:13 (ESV)

13 ...truly, I say to you, he rejoices over it more than over the ninety-nine that never went astray.

Why?

Because even though it was...

Painful

Inconvenient

…for the sheep to have wandered off...

…he has him back in his embrace...

…and that delights his heart!

-Look at Verse 6:

Luke 15:6 (ESV)

6 And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.’

So he wants his joy to spill over, doesn’t he?

It’s not enough for him to be happy about it...

He wants everyone in his life...

…to rejoice with him!

Mike McKinley makes a great observation here:

So great is his delight over the safe return of the one sheep that he calls together his friends and neighbors, urging them to rejoice with him (v 6).

In the end, his response cannot be understood in purely economic terms; he may well spend more than the value of the sheep celebrating its return with his friends.

Jesus’ hearers are left contemplating the shepherd’s extraordinary love for this one lost sheep. — Mike McKinley

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So, what’s Jesus’ point, here?

How is he responding...

…to the grumbling of the Scribes and Pharisees...

…by telling them this story?

-Well, we don’t have to hypothesize about that, this time:

He tells us plainly (In Verse 7):

Luke 15:7 (ESV)

7 Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.

That’s the teaching of the parable.

It’s that simple.

God REJOICES over sinners… WHO REPENT!

He calls all of heaven...

…to rejoice WITH HIM...

Over SINNERS...

WHO REPENT!

But brethren, repentance is the necessary qualifier in that.

So, it’s important that we understand what it means, right?

This Lexicon tells us this...

...about the word Luke uses in the original:

Lexham Theological Wordbook (μετάνοια)

In the NT, primarily refers to a comprehensive change of one’s orientation toward following God.

...it originally referred to a change of mind, but by the time of the NT it had taken on a meaning in Jewish thought of a return to God.

Here is the concept...

...in illustrative form:

1 Peter 2:25 (ESV)

25 For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.

(Not the same Greek word)

(But the same concept)

And don’t forget the preceding verse to that:

1 Peter 2:24 (ESV)

24 He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.

1 Peter 2:25 (ESV)

25 For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.

Mike McKinley brings us back to our text:

What kind of person does God love? Jesus’ answer would have shocked the Pharisees, and it may shock us as well.

It turns out that God does not delight in those who seem to be righteous; he is not passionate about rewarding those who feel they deserve his favor by their performance.

His love is not reserved for good, decent, law-abiding people.

Instead, he loves those who are lost. He delights when they are restored to fellowship with him. — Mike McKinley

That’s the correction to the Pharisee’s grumbling...

That’s the point of that first parable.

-And, the next one is just like it:

Luke 15:8 (ESV)

8 “Or what woman, having ten silver coins, if she loses one coin, does not light a lamp and sweep the house and seek diligently until she finds it?

It’s getting more serious, isn’t it?

No longer 1/100...

But 1/10!

And some commentators say, that...

…these coins (Drachmas) could represent:

Her life savings

Her dowry

A family heirloom.

So, she’s going to “search diligently” . . .

…for this thing until she finds it, isn’t she?

(Think about what this is implying about God)

He seeks out the sinner.

He brings him to repentance

He reclaims him for his own

Then He rejoices over his safe return.

That’s grace upon grace, right?

-Alright, look at Verse 9:

Luke 15:9 (ESV)

9 And when she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I had lost.’

Now, watch how he makes application, this time:

Luke 15:10 (ESV)

10 Just so, I tell you, there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”

Do you see the correlation?

When God brings a fallen sinner to repentance...

…It thrills his anthropomorphic heart!

He delights in it!

It brings him JOY!

And he calls all the attendants of heaven...

…to rejoice along with him!

This is his heart.

This is who he is.

And if you and I really understood who we were...

…there would be nothing in heaven or on earth...

…that would bring us any greater joy...

…than that realization.

Here’s why:

Romans 3:10–12 (ESV)

10 . . . “None is righteous, no, not one;

11 no one understands; no one seeks for God.

12 All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.”

Isaiah 53:6 (ESV)

6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way...

Guys, if God didn’t come after us...

If he didn’t find us and bring us to repentance...

We would forever wander...

…until we found destruction.

But...

Luke 19:10 (ESV)

10 ...the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”

Are you grateful for that?

Let’s give him thanks!