Sermon Tone Analysis

Pray

Introduction

Last week we saw how Jesus had a desire for the lost.

It’s why he spent time with the sinners and tax collectors.

It’s why he shared life with them - entertaining them, eating and drinking with them, because most people in society wouldn’t have done that.

In fact, the religious leaders of the day were muttering with each other because Jesus is spending time with these people.

And so in response to that Jesus tells this parable, which we noticed is only 1 parable but it’s in 3 parts.

And last week we looked at the first part of the parable, where Jesus shows the religious leaders to be the bad shepherds of Israel who were making a hash of shepherding God’s people and Jesus exposed their disdain for the lost because they wouldn’t go after a sheep that was lost - they wouldn’t make themselves unclean and go searching for that sheep.

But Jesus shows himself as the good shepherd who would make himself unclean and go after that lost sheep.

And that’s what Jesus did - he stepped out of glory, made himself unclean by becoming sin for us and dying on the cross in order that we could be found.

And we left last week with a challenge - because the point of the parable was that Jesus was telling his audience - the religious leaders - that they should be concerned for the lost.

What kind of God is God?

God is the kind of God who would roll up his sleeves and do the dirty work to find someone who was lost.

And for anyone who has truly given their lives to Jesus, that’s what God did for you.

Pause

But now the story intensifies, and now we get an insight into how valuable and significant you are to God…and not just YOU, but there’s a way that this parable applies to a certain type of people, and we’ll get to that in a minute.

But where the lost sheep focused on 1 in 100, the lost coin focuses on 1 in 10.

The significance is increasing here…and of course, when we get to the lost son, it’s 1 in 2. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves.

Let’s look at part 2 of the parable...

So now Jesus moves from shepherds to women - from one insignificant people group to another - because women weren’t considered noble or of much value either.

But what kind of God is God?

Well, God is the kind of God who is like a woman who loses a coin...

Let’s stop there for a second.

What so special about a coin?

A silver coin is a Drachma.

It’s worth about a day’s wages.

So it’s a significant amount of money, but it’s not THAT much money.

A day’s wages is substantial, but work another day and you’ve made it back.

But that’s not the point - the point is that the sheep is special to the shepherd and this coin is special to this woman.

And it’s special because to a peasant woman, money is one thing that they DON’T have.

And so in a marriage, they can’t afford wedding rings or stuff like that, because they are peasants, with no money.

And so what they would do is a young woman, before she is married, would scrimp and save up until she has 10 silver coins.

And these coins would be made into a necklace that is worn on her forehead like a dowry.

In other words, it’s a cheap wedding ring.

And 10 coins are used because 10 was the symbol of completeness, and it represented her love for her husband and his love for her… ‘My love for you is complete’.

So if a woman has this dowry of 10 coins which is not worth much in and of itself - and to ANYONE ELSE it’s worthless, but to her this is worth everything.

This represents her love for her husband and his love for here.

The sentimental value means everything to her.

And so losing one of these coins is disaster.

Think of the panic in her eyes when she notices the space in the necklace where the coin used to be.

If you’ve ever lost a child at a busy place then you’ll know the panic I’m thinking of.

I was in W5 with Bethany once when she was only a toddler, I turned around for a second and she was gone.

And the panic that fills your whole body is crazy.

That’s what I imagine this woman felt when she lost that coin.

So she doesn’t mope around and cry - NO, she does what any other woman in her situation would do - she lights a lamp and she starts sweeping.

And she turns the house over to find that coin.

The whole place is turned upside down until she finds this coin.

And because of the coin’s value and significance to her, there is so much joy when she finds that coin.

So much joy that she calls her friends and neighbours (who in this parable are also female and would know just how much this means to her) and they rejoice together.

Pause

What kind of God is God?

God is the kind of God who will tear the world apart to find the lost.

He’s the kind of God who considers the lost sinners significant - even when everyone else has written them off.

Back to the reason for the parable - Jesus was sharing life with the sinners and tax collectors…He was giving them a sense of value and worth - he was making them feel like they meant something, that they had some sort of significance to him…because they DID.

The Pharisees wouldn’t have considered them as significant.

The rest of society had written them off, but not Jesus - Jesus saw value in them.

The rest of society wouldn’t place any value in a small silver coin that was pretty worthless - to this woman, that coin was the most valuable thing in the world to her.

And those people whom society wouldn’t place any value in, to God, they are the most valuable thing in the world and he would tear heaven and earth apart to find them.

Pause

Now, there are some differences between the lost sheep and the lost coin…first of all there is a burden of restoration with the sheep.

The shepherd has to carry the sheep on his shoulders.

With the coin, once it’s found it is automatically restored.

Now, take that thought and now add this...

That the sheep was lost by the shepherds - the bad shepherds.

Remember last week...

If one of you has 100 sheep and YOU lose one of them.

And let’s not put all the blame on the shepherds - sheep wander off.

They are prone to that - that’s why they need a shepherd.

So there is a responsibility on the shepherds, because a sheep is prone to go astray.

But the coin doesn’t go astray.

The coin is an inanimate object - it’s not able to wander off, it’s not able to do anything because it’s a coin.

And so the burden of restoration isn’t the same.

And, like I said earlier, it makes me think of a certain type of people when I think of this parable.

And Jesus was primarily referring to the tax collectors and sinners when he told this parable (and you can see that in the lost sheep and the lost son).

But I wonder is there an application for a different type of person here...

A person who society may have written off - pushed aside somewhat… a person who is worthless to the rest of society, but to God is the most valuable thing in the world.

Because this coin simply fell through the cracks.

It didn’t do anything in and of itself to make itself lost.

It wasn’t a BAD coin.

It wasn’t disobedient (like the son in the next part of the parable).

It didn’t even know HOW to be disobedient.

And so it can’t be blamed for being lost...it simply fell through the cracks.

And there are people like this in the world and this parable gives a great comfort to people like this.

Who am I talking about?

I’m talking about people who have learning difficulties.

People with sever autism, people with disabilities, people who have suffered an injury and have a limited mental capacity.

I’m talking about people like Naomi...Whose mental capacity for understanding is limited.

Who may never really understand what sin is, who may never grasp the lengths Jesus took to save the lost.

People who can’t comprehend the burden of restoration that Jesus had to make to save us.

That he stepped out of heaven and trudged through the dirt and mud of this earth, making himself unclean to find that sheep.

People who can’t grasp that if only we put our faith and trust in Jesus then our whole lives will change and we will get eternal life.

People who can’t understand that we need to repent of our sin and confess it to Jesus otherwise we’re going to a lost eternity.

What CHANCE to people like that have of being saved from Hell and going to Heaven if they don’t understand their need of a saviour or how to get saved?

What CHANCE to they have?

These are people who don’t understand sin.

These are people who can’t wander off.

These are people who have simply fallen through the cracks…like that coin.

What chance do they have?

Here’s the chance they have - because what kind of God is God?

God is like that woman who will light a lamp and tear the house apart until she finds that coin.