The Lost Sheep, Coin, and Son

Intro

Youth Night Recap

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Lesson

The Temptation to Exclude

Do you have a friend group you normally hang out with?

At school?

At rallies?

At events?

If you have a group like that (even in our church), it can feel a little weird when someone new joins because you aren’t used to being around that person, and you aren’t as close to the new person as you are to your other friends.

Anyone feel weird around new people???

So, it’s normal to have friend groups because it’s easy to want to hang out with people you already know well. BUT, friend groups take a turn for the worse when they turn into cliques. When we exclude others from joining and when we look down on outsiders and people who are different than us.

God made us different.

And every person in this youth group is important to this youth group.

For example, Sophie and Ben are two VERY different people. But Sophie needs Ben and Ben needs Sophie.

And this youth group also needs those who will come in the future. So how we treat them matters a lot.

The Pharisees were pretty much the definition of a clique. They were “I’m-holier-than-you” type of people.

Jesus was a Jewish teacher, so they would listen to him, but where always very skeptical, trying to catch Him in a “gotcha moment.”

They saw Jesus surrounding Himself and eating with sinners. They didn’t like that. How could Jesus (a teacher of the Law) hang out with sinners?

Jesus didn’t appreciate their clique and their exclusive attitude. They assumed God only cared about them, because they were the most religious. He wanted to teach them that God cares about everyone, especially sinners.

So His mission wasn’t just to hang out with people who were super religious.

Luke 19:10 NKJV

for the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.”

Jesus wanted to get this message across to them, so He started telling parables about people searching for something they had lost. And when they found what was lost, they celebrated, demonstrated how God feels when a lost person finds Him.

We’ll talk about these parables in a second…

But just know that it can be really easy to fall into the same trap as the Pharisees.

We enjoy dressing in our “Sunday best,” going to church events, hanging out with our youth group. We like living the Christian life.

All those things are great to do and be part of, but we have to remember we are called to reach to and include others.

Our church IS NOT a members-only club where only people who are just like us can come. Instead, our church is all-inclusive. We invite EVERYONE to experience God and we need to make it a point to make them feel welcome.

“Some people brighten up a room just by leaving.” …don’t let that be you!

Lost Things

So, before we look at the parables, do you guys have something you lost CONSTANTLY?

Phone

Keys

I just lost three checks totaling almost $1000 this week.

Now… let’s just say a close friend of yours loses something. It’s very important to them and so you help them look.

If you’re a good friend, you’ll be as urgent to find it as they are, because what matters to your friend matters to you.

In the same way, what matters to God should also matter to us.

If we are indifferent about searching for sinners who are lost, then we are doing it wrong.

God is passionate about seeking for the lost, and He calls us to be passionate about it as well.

While we can’t force anyone to come to church, sinners have to see how passionate we are about the gospel. If it seems unimportant to us, chances are it will seem unimportant to them.

The First Two Parables

So the first parable Jesus told in Luke 15 was about a shepherd who lost a sheep.

The shepherd had 100 sheep. What did it matter if just one went missing?

But it did matter to the shepherd. He left his 99 other sheep to go looking for the one that was lost.

Jesus talked about the joy the shepherd felt when he found his lost sheep.

The shepherd lifted the sheep onto his shoulders, carried it back home, and told all his friends the good news.

And Jesus explained that the lost sheep symbolized a sinner who repents and the joy that jills Heaven over this one sinner repenting.

Luke 15:7 ESV

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.

So what does this tell us?

It’s a terrible loss for God, the true Shepherd, when even one of His people is lost. So Jesus was saying the Pharisees should rejoice when a sinner is saved, rather than being cruel or shunning sinners when they return.

And if heaven rejoices over one person repenting, what should our response be?

The second parable Jesus told was about a woman who had ten silver coins. She lost one coin and searched everywhere in her house to find it.

She swept her whole house looking!

When she finally found it, like the shepherd of the last parable, she was pumped and she called all her friends so they could celebrate with her.

Then Jesus ended the parable with this:

Luke 15:10 ESV

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

These two parables Jesus told were a picture of Himself. Jesus took time to be with sinners because they were the very valuable possessions who had been lost.

Many things Jesus did throughout His ministry on earth set an example for His disciples to follow. He preached, healed the sick, raised the dead, and cast out demons. Then He sent out His disciples to do the same (Matthew 10:1).

It wasn’t just Jesus’ mission to seek the lost; it’s also the mission of His followers.

We should not be satisfied with how many people are already in church. Instead, we should look at our community and realize how many people aren’t yet in church.

The third parable is probably the one you guys know the best.

A man had two sons. The oldest was faithful, stayed home, and did everything his father expected of him.

But the youngest son had a rebellious streak. He was tired of his boring life on the farm. He wanted to see the world and “live a little.”

He asked his father for his inheritance, and he went out to see what life had to offer, far away from home.

But he soon realized he had made a massive mistake. He wasted all his money on foolish, sinful things. Then he was broke and had no one to help him.

He was starving, so he started working for a pig farmer. He was so desperate that he wanted to eat the pig’s food, but no one would give him anything.

He had done things that most people would have considered unforgivable at the time:

Asked for his inheritance before his father had died (basically wishing he was already dead).

Spent it all on dumb stuff.

Became a pig farmer (lowest of low to the Jews)

Any of these things would have been too much for Jesus’ audience. But what the father did was equally as shocking.

Luke 15:20 NLT

“So he returned home to his father. And while he was still a long way off, his father saw him coming. Filled with love and compassion, he ran to his son, embraced him, and kissed him.

The son had figured that, at best, his father would take him in as a servant. But to his surprise, his father celebrated!

He clothed him with his best clothes.

He had the calf that was being fattened for a special occasion prepared for a feast in his son’s honor.

To the people listening, this was unfair and horrible. And to the old son, it was too.

He though his brother should be punished for his behavior, not have a party thrown for him.

When the older brother refused to join the party, his father went to persuade him to come celebrate. But his son wasn’t having it.

Then the father told him what he needed to hear.

Luke 15:31–32 NLT

“His father said to him, ‘Look, dear son, you have always stayed by me, and everything I have is yours. We had to celebrate this happy day. For your brother was dead and has come back to life! He was lost, but now he is found!’ ”

Conclusion

Sometimes we may feel like the older brother and the Pharisees. We want to be rewarded for our faithfulness, and we want sinners to get what they deserve. But as God calls us to search for the lost, He also calls us to offer mercy when the lost sons and daughters return, even if we don’t think they deserve it.

Reach, get out of your box, talk to someone - they need to come home!

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