Two stories told by Jesus.  Lost sheep & lost coin. So why not entitle this sermon, “Lost Things”?  Because we are interested in what these stories tell us about Jesus. 

Talk about our Theme for this year - JESUS IS THE SUBJECT.

We’re considering these stories from the perspective of redemption.

What does “redeem” mean?

SLIDE:  Redeem: Buy back. reclaim as one's own. Recover what was lost, forfeited, or stolen

Talk about OT provisions for regaining what was sold, lost, or forfeited - land, livestock, people

If people got into a bind and sold their land - the closest relative (the kinsman redeemer) had the right to buy it back and keep it in the family

If a man sold himself or a family member into slavery, the kinsman redeemer had the right to pay for their freedom

Things which were lost, sold, or forfeited were not irredeemable – there was hope for their return.

Our stories today are about this which were lost – but not irredeemably lost.  They were found, reclaimed and restored.

They’re also stories about Joy – “there is more joy in heaven; there is joy in the presence of God’s angels.”

SLIDE:  The Shepherd & His Sheep  (LUKE 15:1-7)

familiar theme. Everyone knew about shepherds and sheep. Shepherds and sheep played a significant role in the history of Israel.

Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Moses were shepherds.

David was a shepherd before he was a warrior and king.  His experience as a shepherd, caring for his father’s flock, led him to compose a song describing God as his shepherd - his guardian and protector.

SLIDE:  Psalm 23:1-3

Psalm 23:1–3 NLT

The Lord is my shepherd; I have all that I need. He lets me rest in green meadows; he leads me beside peaceful streams. He renews my strength. He guides me along right paths, bringing honor to his name.

David saw God as a good shepherd. When he became king, the Lord called him to shepherd the nation, to care for them and protect them as he had his father’s sheep.

 SLIDE:  2 Samuel 5:1–2 

2 Samuel 5:1–2 NLT

Then all the tribes of Israel went to David at Hebron and told him, “We are your own flesh and blood. In the past, when Saul was our king, you were the one who really led the forces of Israel. And the Lord told you, ‘You will be the shepherd of my people Israel. You will be Israel’s leader.’ ”

Other OT ref to the leaders as shepherds had a negative connation

SLIDE:  Jeremiah 23:1

Jeremiah 23:1 NLT

“What sorrow awaits the leaders of my people—the shepherds of my sheep—for they have destroyed and scattered the very ones they were expected to care for,” says the Lord.

SLIDE:  Ezekiel 34:2 

Ezekiel 34:2 NLT

“Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds, the leaders of Israel. Give them this message from the Sovereign Lord: What sorrow awaits you shepherds who feed yourselves instead of your flocks. Shouldn’t shepherds feed their sheep?

SLIDE:  The Shepherd & His Sheep 

When the Judean leaders criticized Jesus for eating with tax collectors and sinners, he gave them an illustration about a shepherd’s care for his flock of sheep.  Jesus invited the listening leaders to see themselves as shepherds – (and they probably saw themselves symbolically as shepherds to God’s people). Imagine them hearing it as a story about them.

SLIDE: Luke 15:3-4, BE:NT.

Luke 15:3–4 BE:NT

So Jesus told them this parable. ‘Supposing one of you has a hundred sheep,’ he said, ‘and you lose one of them. What will you do? Why, you’ll leave the ninety-nine out in the countryside, and you’ll go off looking for the lost one until you find it!

Jesus invites them to imagine they have a fairly substantial flock of sheep, and when they count their sheep at the end of the day, they notice one is missing.  What would they do?  Because shepherds usually didn’t work alone, the shepherd could leave his flock in the care of his companions and go look for the lost sheep. Wouldn’t they do what any caring shepherd would do?

SLIDE: Luke 15:5-6, BE:NT.

Luke 15:5–6 BE:NT

And when you find it, you’ll be so happy—you’ll put it on your shoulders and come home, and you’ll call your friends and neighbours in. “Come and have a party!” you’ll say. “Celebrate with me! I’ve found my lost sheep!”

SLIDE: Luke 15:7, BE:NT.

Luke 15:7 BE:NT

‘Well, let me tell you: that’s how glad they will be in heaven over one sinner who repents—more than over ninety-nine righteous people who don’t need repentance..

While the leaders were still processing that story, Jesus immediately went on with another story about a woman and her coins.

SLIDE: THE WOMAN AND HER COINS

The leaders complaining to Jesus about the tax collectors and notorious sinners valued sheep.  They also valued money.

Coins were also familiar.  And this woman’s coins have a context.  It was customary for a woman to receive a dowry at her marriage, which would be the only money she would bring to the marriage that would remain hers – even if her husband divorced her.  10 silver coins wasn’t much of a dowry – but it would have been precious to her.

SLIDE: Luke 15:8-9, BE:NT

Luke 15:8–9 BE:NT

‘Or supposing a woman has ten drachmas and loses one of them. What will she do? Why, she’ll light a lamp, and sweep the house, and hunt carefully until she finds it! And when she finds it she’ll call her friends and neighbours in. “Come and have a party!” she’ll say. “Celebrate with me! I’ve found my lost coin!”

SLIDE: Luke 15:10

Luke 15:10 BE:NT

‘Well, let me tell you: that’s how glad God’s angels feel when a single sinner repents.’

These “shepherds of Israel” were not out looking for lost sheep (tax collectors and notorious sinners, obviously being lost sheep of Israel) - they were acting more like the impoverished man who sold his livestock or family member into slavery,  They weren’t like the woman who valued all her coins – even the one lost in the dirt on the floor - they were ready to abandon what they were called to guard.

The listening leaders surely got the point.  They weren’t the good shepherds God was calling them to be.  They were willing to let people get lost and leave them behind.

TITLE SLIDE:

Jesus: Joyful Redeemer  

Our passage today isn’t just a story about pharisees, religious leaders, tax collectors and sinners - it’s also a story about Jesus, the Good Shepherd of Israel, in the role of Kinsman redeemer - the close relative who reclaims, redeems, and restores what others have lost - paying the redemption price out of his own resources.

CONCLUSION

SLIDE: Titus 2:11–14, ESV 

Titus 2:11–14 ESV

For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.

Jesus: Joyful Redeemer

CONCLUSION

Luke for Everyone The Parables of the Lost Sheep and the Lost Coin (Luke 15:1–10)

The point of the parables is then clear. This is why there’s a party going on: all heaven is having a party, the angels are joining in, and if we don’t have one as well we’ll be out of tune with God’s reality.

In the stories of the sheep and the coin, the punch line in each case depends on the Jewish belief that the two halves of God’s creation, heaven and earth, were meant to fit together and be in harmony with each other. If you discover what’s going on in heaven, you’ll discover how things were meant to be on earth. That, after all, is the point of praying that God’s kingdom will come ‘on earth as in heaven’. As far as the legal experts and Pharisees were concerned, the closest you could get to heaven was in the Temple; the Temple required strict purity from the priests; and the closest that non-priests could get to copying heaven was to maintain a similarly strict purity in every aspect of life. But now Jesus was declaring that heaven was having a great, noisy party every time a single sinner saw the light and began to follow God’s way. If earth-dwellers wanted to copy the life of heaven, they’d have a party, too. That’s what Jesus was doing.

The particular sheep, and the particular coin, weren’t themselves special. (The coins, by the way, may well have been the woman’s savings, possibly her dowry. Losing one would be a personal as well as a financial disaster.) In one of the late, corrupt versions of Jesus’ teaching which were circulated in subsequent centuries, Jesus is made to say to the lost sheep, ‘I love you more than the others.’ But the whole point of the parable is that the only thing different about this sheep is that it was lost. Imagine the impact of this on the repentant sinners who heard the stories. They didn’t have to earn God’s love or Jesus’ respect. He loved coming looking for them, and celebrated finding them.

And what Jesus did—this is the deepest point of these parables, and the ultimate reason why the Pharisees objected to them—was what God was doing. Jesus’ actions on earth corresponded exactly to God’s love in the heavenly realm.

The real challenge of these parables for today’s church is: what would we have to do, in the visible, public world, if we were to make people ask the questions to which stories like these are the answer? What might today’s Christians do that would make people ask, ‘Why are you doing something like that?’, and give us the chance to tell stories about finding something that was lost?