The Value Of One | Luke 15:1-10, Mark 16:15

Before we start, I have a couple of small handouts I’d like to get to you. This is for the end of the service when you’ll be encouraged to commit to getting involved in the Tell One, Bring One, Win One emphasis. Once you get those, just hold on to them and we’ll talk about them here in a little bit.

Opening Remarks: Turn to Luke 15. I’m excited about the theme tonight, because I think it will help us in an area we’ve needed to focus on for a while. Obviously the emphasis is on outreach with the theme “Tell One, Bring One, Win One.” Specifically, that one person may not make a difference in the grand scheme of things, but one person makes a difference to God.

The action verse for the theme is Mark 16:15, “And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.”

Every creature means “all of creation.” Which means that, in Jesus’ mind, not one human being in all of creation should be left out of hearing the Great Commission. Every person matters.

That’s the message of Luke 15.

Read Luke 15:1-10

TITLE: The Value Of One

PRAY

Introduction: In 1990, US Representative Jim Kolbe from Arizona introduced the Price Rounding Act, with the purpose of eliminating the penny in cash transactions. The suggestion was to round every transaction to the nearest nickel. The idea was and still is that the penny is no longer worth minting. In actuality, the penny costs more to produce than the one cent it is worth, which means the government loses money on every penny that gets made. Since 1990, several other bills have been introduced to cease penny production, but none have been approved.

This debate has taken place before. In fact our currency used to include the hay-penny or half-cent, but production stopped for that in 1857.

Other countries have ceased production of the lowest value coin before - Canada stopped making its penny in 2012.

But the legislation has never gained traction here, even though the debate continues.

And I’m actually glad. Because as much as pennies don’t seem to have value to us, every penny should be a reminder of the truth we see in Luke 15. I don’t want to get rid of the penny, because it’s a picture of how God views every soul. Every man, every woman, every boy and every girl has value in God’s eyes. He sees everyone and everyone matters to Him. Every Creature matters to God.

Luke 15 is a chapter that about God’s view of the One.

It includes three parables that most of us are familiar with:

Parable #1 is the Parable Of The Lost Sheep

It’s the account of a shepherd that owns 100 sheep but one goes missing. While some might say, “Oh well, it’s just one.” The shepherd, who represents God the Father, cared enough for the One that He searched until He found it.

Vs. 5 says He laid it on His shoulders and rejoiced.

Vs. 6 states that when He got home, He called His friends and neighbors and said, “Rejoice with me! For I have found my sheep that was lost!”

Look at Vs. 7. The point of these parables is to help us to see how God the Father views the One. Every life that repents and comes to Christ cause an occasion of rejoicing in God’s presence in Heaven.

Parable #2 is the Parable Of The Lost Coin

Vs. 8-9 - One piece of silver is not a whole lot.

Until you consider that the woman only started with 10. Which means that coin represents 10% of what she owns.

The value of One goes way up when you realize it’s one of only 10.

And just like Parable #1, great lengths are gone to in order to find the coin.

The woman lights a candle so she can see.

She sweeps the floor multiple times until it’s found.

She seeks diligently to find it.

This is a genuine search, not the way kids look for things sometimes.

Mom, “I can’t find my sweater.”

“Look in your room.”

“I did!”

“Look in the laundry room.”

“I did!”

“Did you look in your closet?”

“Yes. It’s nowhere!”

“So you’re telling me somebody came into your room, saw that sweater and said, ‘It’s mine now!’ and took it home?”

That gets them every time, so they go back to look. And 30 minutes later they come back frustrated and crying, “It’s nowhere! It’s gone forever!”

So mom drops what she’s doing and goes into the room and 10-15 seconds later comes out with the sweater.

Some people are really good at looking for lost things. Children and teenagers are not some people.

This woman looked for the coin with diligence. She did all she could to make sure that coin was found.

And when it was, there was great rejoicing.

Parable #3 is the most familiar. It’s the Parable Of The Prodigal Son.

If the first two parables are establishing the truth that each One matters to God, the third parable shows us the difference that truth makes in our lives.

It’s about a son that grows tired of his father’s rules and ways, so he demands his inheritance and leaves home.

He lives it up till the money runs out, but then his friends abandon him and he finds himself eating with the pigs, which is the lowest of lows for a Jewish person.

So he goes home, and his father is waiting. And when his father sees him afar off, he runs to meet his son that was lost.

He hugs and kisses him, then takes him home and gives him the best robe, a beautiful ring, new shoes, then kills a calf to eat and celebrate.

Vs. 24 says, “For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found. And they began to be merry.”

That’s a picture of how God sees each person.

I. Every Lost Soul Has Value In The Eyes Of God

Vs. 4 - The shepherd left the hundred to find the one, searching until it was found

Vs. 8 - The woman lit a candle and swept the house and diligently looked until the coin was found

Vs. 20 - The father was looking for his son and rejoiced when he was found

Every soul has value to God.

I know the BLM movement has been big the last few years, and it spawned a counter movement with the message “All Lives Matter.” It was controversial because those in the BLM movement said it was dismissive of what they were trying to do. But they did enough to discredit their movement on their own, in my own opinion.

Because the truth is, All Lives Do Matter. Including Black Lives and White Lives and every color in between. It’s biblical to say that All Lives Matter, because they do, to God.

Wherever you come from, your life has value in the eyes of God.

And this truth is what drives much of our worldview:

This is why we are adamantly opposed to the idea of Abortion, because that baby’s life matters to God.

This is why euthanasia is wrong, because taking someone’s life is God’s decision and that person, old or not, healthy or not, matters to God.

This is why we must love our neighbors and reach our community no matter race or standing because every soul has value in the eyes of God.

That’s what Luke 15 teaches us.

From sheep to coins to wayward sons, the lesson is clear. God values every life.

So what does that have to do with us?

Well, God made man in His image.

Genesis 1 tells us that God made Adam in His image.

It was God’s plan for Adam to be a human representative of Himself. An Image Bearer of God.

It is God’s will for us to reflect our Father.

And if every life matters to God, then every soul ought to matter to us as Image Bearers of God.

Well, what did God say to that first image-bearer Adam, in Genesis 1?

Well, Genesis 1:27–28 “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it…”

You know what God was saying, “Man, woman, I’m making you in my image. It is your job to fill the earth with more who bear my image.”

God’s glory is impacted when the earth is full of people who reflect Him. He wants the earth to be full of Image Bearers.

And I know sin threw a monkey wrench into all of it, but it is still God’s desire for the earth to be full of Image Bearers.

And it’s our responsibility to help it happen.

But not just in birth, although I believe God’s people ought to be passionate about having families and filling the earth with Image Bearers. If you drive a 15-passenger van, God Bless You for doing His work.

But this is more than physical. He desires spiritual Image Bearers. He deserves an earth to be filled with people that love Him and reflect Him and serve and glorify Him.

So how does that happen in this generation?

We can’t all have children. But one thing we can do is take the Gospel to every creature so that the earth can be full of Image Bearers.

The principle that One lost soul has value is found throughout Luke 15.

But like a hand in a glove, the second principle found in Luke 15 is that God’s people are responsible to help make it happen.

Two Principles:

I. Every Lost Soul Has Value To God

And principle #2 is…

II. Every Found Soul Should Value The Lost Ones Enough To Go

That’s where Mark 16:15 comes in.

Our task is to value every creature.

Every one.

Like a shepherd with one lost sheep.

Like a woman with one lost coin.

Like a father with one lost son.

Every one matters. And if we matter to God, every One of us has the responsibility to find the next lost One.

That’s the point of our theme this year. That we have God’s view of the One, and stop at nothing to reach them.

Sometimes I think we’re better at thinking about the whole than we are the One.

For example, Missions Revival. We give our money, which is wonderful. Where are treasure is, there will our heart be also.

But there’s almost less accountability when it comes to giving to Missions because it’s so big.

It’s hard to measure success or failure because it’s so big.

But if we want to take a step in our commitment to the Gospel, let’s start talking about the One.

The One you work with.

The One you go to school with.

The One that lives next door.

The One that gives your coffee.

The One that bags your groceries.

Missions almost lets us off the hook because we feel good about giving but there’s no real way to check the results.

But when you start thinking about that One person that you encounter, you either invited them to church or you didn’t.

You either initiated a spiritual conversation or you didn’t.

You either gave them the Gospel or you didn’t.

In many ways, Missions lets someone else do the measurable work.

But Telling One. Inviting One. Bringing One. Or, with God’s help, Winning One, puts the personal responsibility directly on our shoulders.

And we can say we reflect God and we are like our Father, but if we don’t take personal responsibility and apply sacrificial effort for that lost One, we’re probably not as much like our Father as we thought.

Have we lost sight of the Value Of One?

Every Creature?

Every Life?

Every Lost One?

And what I love about this is, it’s doable. Just One. One at a time. We’re not talking about the whole world. We’re talking about One.

And before you think it’s not a big enough vision, let’s think about the value of one.

Let’s go back to the penny.

If I start with one penny and double it tomorrow, now I have 2.

If I double that the next day, now I have 4.

If I double it again, now I have 8.

That doesn’t sound like much, but do you realize that if you followed that pattern for 30 days, on day 30, you’d have over 5 million dollars?

It doesn’t sound possible, but it’s true.

And the key is, that every penny doubles itself every day. That’s all.

So every penny brings in one more penny every day, and suddenly you’re not talking about addition. You’re talking about multiplication.

How does that apply to our church?

Let’s say 125 people in this room determined to reach One person in 2025.

I know it’s hypothetical, but let’s say that 125 of us reach and disciple One person this year.

That means we’d have 250 in this room this time next year.

So let’s say that those 250 do the same thing and reach and disciple One person in 2026.

That means in January of 2027, we’d have 500 people.

We’d need services and a bigger building.

By 2028 we’d have 1000.

And then 2000. Then 4000. Then 8000. 16000. 32000. 64000. 128000. 256000.

The numbers just came out. Sioux Falls now is right at 220,000 people in our city.

Which means, in 11 years, if every disciple of Christ in this room reached One who reached One and so on, we’d win the entire city of Sioux Falls. 11 years.

And it alls starts when One found soul decides to go after One lost soul.

What might God do in Sioux Falls if every person in this room started acting like the Father when One is lost?

I would love to be a part of that.

But there’s one more truth I want to point out:

Every Soul Has Value To God

Every Found Soul Should Value The Lost Ones Enough To Go

III. Every Time One Is Found, God Rejoices

Which means, we can have a part in doing something that makes our Father rejoice.

Isn’t that what our lives are all about? Pleasing the Father?

Knowing that God our Father might look at efforts to reach the next One and say, “That makes me happy. I’m pleased with that One. I rejoice in what they’re doing.”

When we value what God values and seek whom He seeks, we will live lives that please Him.

Is there anything more important than that?

So here are the applications:

Tell One

That means that we commit to people every week. We put down a number and seek the Lost. And you might say, “The theme just says one.” But the spirit of the truth is the next One. A lost One. One at a time. Not to be content with just One, but to reach the next One

But the Great Commission is not even about just inviting people to church. It’s about giving the Gospel. So there’s a place for us to commit to giving the Gospel a certain numbers of times this year. Commit either weekly or monthly or for the year. But we need to commit to give the Gospel.

If you don’t know how, we can help you with that. It takes some effort and practice, but anyone can do it.

Bring One

This goes beyond just handing out a tract. Now you are working to bring someOne to a service in 2025.

It’s not easy. It takes work. It takes months and sometimes years and prayer, but if we don’t set a goal, we’ll likely never do it.

Win One

This one is up to the Lord, but the commitment is to pray that God would use each of us to win One person to Christ in 2025.

You say, “That’s a big step of faith.” It is. But it’s our calling. And if we view people like God views them, then we will stop at nothing to reach a lost One.

There’s a place for a name of One if you want to write it down.

And if not, commit to pray continually that God would use you to reach One.

Conclusion

There are people in this room that have been Christians for a while and maybe have never invited anyone.

Or maybe, and this is likely, you’ve never shared the Gospel with someone else.

Perhaps it’s been a long time or never since you brought a guest to church.

And this is probably a greater number than we care to admit, but I would imagine a number of believers have never won a soul to Christ.

Wouldn’t it be great if 2025 was a turning point in our lives when it comes to reaching the lost?

Are you convicted about having no fruit to show?

Have you been using excuses not to invite or tell?

Maybe because of fear or being too busy?

Does it weigh on you that you’ve never brought someone to church?

Does it convict you that you haven’t led someone to Christ?

Are you bothered that you have no One to take to Heaven with you?

I’m not sure just one makes a difference.

I’m sure you’ve heard the story of the starfish, which is one of my favorite illustrations:

There was an old man who used to visit the beach often. He had a habit of walking on the beach every morning. Early one morning, he was walking along the shore after a big storm had passed and found the beach littered with starfish as far as the eye could see, stretching in both directions.

Off in the distance, the man noticed a small boy doing something. He was bending down, picking up an object, standing up and throwing the object into the sea.  The boy came closer and the man asked, “May I ask what it is that you are doing?”

The boy looked up and said, “Throwing starfish into the ocean. The tide has washed them up onto the beach and they can’t return to the sea by themselves. And when the sun gets high, they will die, unless I throw them back in the water.”

The old man said, “But there must be tens of thousands of starfish along this beach. I’m afraid you won’t really be able to make much of a difference.”

The boy bent down, picked up another starfish and threw it as far as he could into the water. Then he turned and said to the man, “It made a difference to that one!”

I believe there are some Lost Sheep and Lost Coins and Lost Sons and Daughters in our community who just need someone that cares to make a difference to that One.

One day we’ll all stand before Christ in judgment.

And in that moment, everything else we filled our lives with will seem very unimportant.

What will matter is who is there with us.

We will all wish we had taken more seriously the call to reach the next One.

Let’s get serious about this calling this year. Not because of the theme but because:

1. Each One matters to God

2. And you can make a difference in that One