Loving the Lost

We have just come through our message series called, Soul Activity, where we spent 5 weeks examining the Greatest Commandment to love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength in specific detail.

As we allow God to align our lives to His truth, and as we love Him with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, we are going to be compelled to action, because a love like God’s cannot sit still and it cannot remain quiet.

And perhaps the most important way that we are compelled by God is to love what Jesus loves, and to rejoice in what He rejoices in.

If we love what He loves, we will care about what He cares about, and we will seek after what He seeks after, and so on.

Luke 19:10 ESV

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

Jesus loves people.

And unfortunately, most people do not love Jesus. And those that do, or those who are open to investigating and learning about Jesus are often ostracized and marginalized by the world.

Jesus came to reach the outcasts, the marginalized, the oppressed, the dismissed, the abused, the poor, the widow, and the orphan.

And that’s the message series we are beginning today, Outcasts.

For the next 5 weeks, we will look through the book of Luke to see just who Jesus went to, who He ate with, and the obstacles that He overcame to seek and save the lost.

We just learned what it means to love God with our everything, and now we will learn what second Greatest Commandment means, that is, “to love our neighbor as ourselves.”

Lets pray.

Please open your Bibles to , and we are going to read three parables of Jesus and look at them briefly this morning.

Some theologians and biblical historians have nicknamed this section as, The Gospel of the Outcasts because a large portion of are about Jesus’ compassion and action concerning the social outcasts of His day.

As our Outcasts series progresses, we will look at specific people, but for today, we will take a 30,000 foot view so that the overall context can be established for the series as a whole.

Luke 15:1–2 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.”

Here is one of the main obstacles that Jesus had to overcome.

You’ll notice that verse 1 says that that tax collectors and sinners were drawn to Jesus. You’ll also notice that the text does not record Jesus resisting their presence and/or company.

Tax collectors were among the marginalized and ostracized in Jesus’ day because their work was considered dishonest or immoral. The reason tax collectors are nicknamed “sinners” in this section is not because Luke, the author, was designating them as such, but this was how the Pharisees referred to them. And you can see in verse 2 how the Pharisees complained and grumbled about Jesus’ association with such people.

Obstacle 1:

Religion

Religion essentially means “to do with great fervor”

When you do something “religiously” you are doing it with passion and conviction. That’s not a bad thing.

But religion divorced from faith is toxic.

Faith is our complete and total trust in Jesus to do for us, in us, and through us what we cannot do ourselves.

So religion, when it is an honest outflowing of our faith is a good thing.

But when religion is disconnected from faith, it becomes an unforgiving ritual.

Religion is humanity’s attempt to get to God on his/her own.

And have you noticed that there are two I’s in religion?

I can do it

I can’t do it (this needs to be a certain graphic, which we will make together on Wednesday)

Either way, faith is nowhere to be seen, and to be honest, neither is Jesus.

The Pharisees had so strived to perfect their religion that they didn’t live by faith and so its no wonder that they didn’t recognize Jesus as Messiah because they weren’t looking for Him in the first place.

And so, we see here, and we will see again, how religion separated from faith was a constant obstacle to Jesus’ ministry, and He was constantly being interrupted by the religious leaders of the day, and being asked religious gotcha questions, so that the religious wizards-of-smart of the day might somehow be able to religiously disqualify Jesus.

Their efforts didn’t work, and we are about to see why.

But right here, I want all of us to ask ourselves this question:

Does my personal religion get in the way of me sharing my faith with the lost?

Is there something about your religiosity that dismisses people because they don’t measure up to your standard of righteousness?

More often than not, that will be a challenge for us today, so we need to examine ourselves right now.

Now, how does Jesus overcome the obstacle of religion?

And, for us today, we can look at this as a blueprint for overcoming the religious spirit that might rise up within ourselves.

Let’s continue in .

Luke 15:3–7 ESV

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.

This would have been a very common situation in Jesus’ day. 100 sheep was the average size for a flock, and the “open country” would have been a relatively safe area. Every night, the shepherd would take a count of the sheep. In this case, one was missing, and so the shepherd leaves the 99 to find the missing 1.

Toilet paper roll in the toilet illustration

I would just take the loss, but not the shepherd.

For the shepherd, no losses are acceptable.

Because once a life is lost, you can’t go to the store and buy another 12 pack of double-sized rolls that are so good even bears want some. No, when a life is lost, it is lost. The only time a lost life can be found is during its time on earth.

So the shepherd leaves the 99 at night to find the lost 1.

Because if that 1 is lost at that moment, it won’t be able to be found again.

What kind of shepherd are you?

Are you like me and my toilet paper?

When God prompts you to reach out to someone do you obey?

Do you reason with God and figure that, “oh well, someone else will get to them eventually.”

Or, after a long day of tending sheep, you finally finish your count, and you’re ready to go to sleep, but God wants you to stay up, go back out, and reach the missing 1, will you do it?

Luke 15:8–10 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? 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.”

These coins are most likely drachmas, which were common currency of the day. The coins in question may have been part of the woman’s headdress, as some head coverings were adorned with coins in that day. Perhaps more likely, the ten coins were all she had in terms of money, and therefore to lose 1/10th of everything is a pretty big deal. The woman would light a lamp, as her home was likely poorly lit with few windows, and she would sweep her dirt floor in the hopes that she could identify the coin by the sound of its metal clinking about with other objects.

Here again, if you’re like me, if you drop a penny somewhere, you’re not wasting time to look for it. Its virtually worthless, and you can just find another one that someone else dropped sometime.

But for the woman, she didn’t have 99 more just it. She had 9 more, and even so, this 1 was important and valuable to her. This coin, while it may have looked insignificant on the outside, and while it may have looked like just another coin to everyone else, was so uniquely valuable to the woman that she told her neighbors and had a dinner party to celebrate the fact that she had found this one lost coin.

Question to consider:

Do I see the lost in my city like they are just one penny among a bunch of pennies?

A bunch of pennies makes a dollar, a bunch of sinners makes the lost?

Or do I see the lost as individual, exponentially valuable creations of God, who were lost to sin and who God wants me to reach out to with the message of His love and grace?

Do I see the lost as unique and significant, or as just another in a long line of others?

Luke 15:11–31 ESV

11 And he said, “There was a man who had two sons. 12 And the younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of property that is coming to me.’ And he divided his property between them. 13 Not many days later, the younger son gathered all he had and took a journey into a far country, and there he squandered his property in reckless living. 14 And when he had spent everything, a severe famine arose in that country, and he began to be in need. 15 So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him into his fields to feed pigs. 16 And he was longing to be fed with the pods that the pigs ate, and no one gave him anything. 17 “But when he came to himself, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have more than enough bread, but I perish here with hunger! 18 I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. 19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Treat me as one of your hired servants.” ’ 20 And he arose and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him. 21 And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ 22 But the father said to his servants, ‘Bring quickly the best robe, and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet. 23 And bring the fattened calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate. 24 For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.’ And they began to celebrate. 25 “Now his older son was in the field, and as he came and drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing. 26 And he called one of the servants and asked what these things meant. 27 And he said to him, ‘Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fattened calf, because he has received him back safe and sound.’ 28 But he was angry and refused to go in. His father came out and entreated him, 29 but he answered his father, ‘Look, these many years I have served you, and I never disobeyed your command, yet you never gave me a young goat, that I might celebrate with my friends. 30 But when this son of yours came, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him!’ 31 And he said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours.

Luke 15:11–32 ESV

And here we have the very famous Prodigal Son parable.

In the time, a father would divide his estate among his sons, giving his firstborn son a double-portion, this means that, according to tradition, the older son would receive two-thirds, and the younger would receive on-third. With that said, however, the Bible doesn’t specify how the property was divided, but certainly the older brother knew what his portion would be upon his father’s death.

So the younger son takes his inheritance and wastes it on temporary fun. A famine hits, and all of sudden, he can’t find work to earn more money, and there is barely any crops being grown, let alone food for sale. In that day, he would have resorted to eating what were called, “pods,” which were carob seeds, a commonly used pig food. The younger son had fallen so low and had become so insignificant that “no one gave him anything” - which tells us that he was totally neglected by society.

When he came to his senses, we read of his initial repentance. While his physical motivation to return home was hunger, he really longed to be with his father. And he knew that, according to tradition, he could not come back as a son, he had no right to do so after squandering his inheritance, so he prepared to come to his father as a hired hand and maybe he might get hired to do work on what could have been his land.

The Expositor’s Bible Commentary explains:

The Expositor’s Bible Commentary, Volume 8: Matthew, Mark, Luke c. The Lost Son (15:11–32)

21–24 The son’s speech was never completed (v. 21). Instead the father more than reversed the unspoken part about becoming a “hired man” (v. 19). The robe, ring, and sandals (v. 22) signified more than sonship (Jeremiah Parables of Jesus, p. 130); the robe was a ceremonial one such as a guest of honor would be given, the ring signified authority, and the sandals were those only a free man would wear. Marshall (Gospel of Luke, p. 610) doubts Manson’s assertion that the robe was “a symbol of the New Age.” The calf was apparently being “fattened” for some special occasion (v. 23); people in first-century Palestine did not regularly eat meat. Note the parallel between “dead” and “alive” and “lost” and “found” (v. 24)—terms that also apply to one’s state before and after conversion to Christ (Eph 2:1–5). As in the parables of the lost sheep and the lost coin, it was time to “celebrate.”

But the older son was jealous. He listed all the things he had done that were “righteous” and certainly did not want to share the best foods with his sinful brother. Certainly a spirit of self-righteous religiosity.

But the father responds to the older son with tenderness as well, calling him “my son” or “my child,” depending on your translation. And the father says that the celebration was necessary, the implication being that the older son should have joined them.

Two Kinds of Questions to Ask Ourselves:

Are there people, or a group of people, that you think are rightly neglected?

If so, what makes you think that your scale of righteousness is equal to that of God’s?

Is there anyone in your life against whom you might be holding a grudge, and because of that, you don’t really want them to be reached in Jesus’ name? At least not by you?

Now remember, all these parables were to overcome the obstacle of faithless religion, so let’s look at the distinctives of each story that won the day for Jesus in this example.

The Lost Sheep

Urgency of the need for salvation.

The shepherd knows that if that lost sheep isn’t found, it won’t be, and now is the time. The Pharisees couldn’t be bothered to leave the 99.

The Lost Coin

Unique value and worth of the lost.

What has been lost cannot be replaced. There’s nothing else in the universe like it. That means that you cannot be replaced. You are not expendable. That means that the lost in our city cannot be replaced, nor are they expendable. You had to be found if you were to be given new life in Christ, and so, the lost in our city must be found if they are going to move from death to life in Jesus.

The Lost Son

Its not what the lost son did, its what his father did

As people, we identify ourselves with our sin far more than we identify ourselves with our Savior Jesus Christ. That’s why we nickname ourselves, and others, according to our latest or greatest sins.

But the hope that people need is what says that your name can be changed from your sin soaked past to a joy-filled eternity in and with Christ.

We spend so much time on what we do wrong, and what other people do wrong, that we can eclipse or forget all that God has done, is doing, and will do.

Have you heard of testimony envy? That’s where some Christians don’t think that their testimony is very exciting because they don’t have a dark, traumatic, or shameful past to point to?

What is that if not identifying with our sin rather than our Savior?

My testimony, your testimony, our Christian testimonies are not about what we have done, but what God has done in our lives.

And God has done miraculous things in every life that belongs to Him, and that miraculous life is available to all who will believe in Him.

Why do we get so hung up on what we do?

Here’s a spoiler alert: we screw things up, God doesn’t.

Instead of lamenting our boring lives, how about relating the testimony of God’s protection over your life so you didn’t have to go through what others have had to go through?

And with the prodigal son, its no different. The miracle of of the prodigal son is what his father did. And I would encourage you to read through this section again on your own and take notes about all that the seeker does to find the lost.

The religious spirit was overcome by the truth about that which was lost, the lost’s urgent need for salvation, and by the work that the Savior did on behalf of the lost.

That’s how Jesus overcame it in this instance, and you might use a similar approach in your own life.

Nothing kills the stink of religion like humility before Christ. If its all His work, and not mine, I really don’t have a reason to be religiously prideful, do I?

Two common themes of each parable that also help to overcome a religious spirit:

Jesus focused on the item’s/people’s inherent value not their inherent virtue.

In each parable, God is pictured as one who has lost something that is valuable to Him.

In each parable, the something that is lost, is lost due to a mistake, or blatant disobedience.

And yet in each parable, God never gives up searching for the lost something.

God didn’t choose whether or not to seek what was lost based on their behavior (i.e. virtue), He sought them because they were valuable to Him as His creation.

Do we seek people according to their value to God, or to their perceived virtue to us?

Because what can appear to be virtue to our eyes, may just be faithless religion in disguise.

And don’t hear me saying that virtue doesn’t matter. Of course it does.

But the Bible is clear that apart from Christ, we are not good people, that is, the good that we do is not true virtue in the eternal sense. Sure, we can be generally nice to each other, but its not goodness or righteousness.

The goodness that God wants is something that only He can produce in us, and that is true for others who are lost too. We can’t expect them to be pre-Christian Christians.

And that means that when we seek to reach the lost, we really are reaching a people who are vastly different than us.

The return of the lost was celebrated enthusiastically

It can be somewhat subtle, but much of the impression that the world gets about the church doesn’t come from our pulpits in front of them, but from our presence with them.

In each parable, when the lost was found, there was rejoicing. Furthermore, that rejoicing happened publicly and was shared by heaven and earth.

Think of the things that make you feel like you are cared for and loved, and think of the things that make you feel insignificant and/or not allowed, so to speak.

Do you love God enough to love the lost in such a way that when the lost is found you get so excited that you just can’t hide it?

When the lost was found in each story, the Savior called their families and friends and had a party.

Why?

Because God rejoices when the lost are rescued.

Seeking and receiving sinners in Jesus’ Name, that is, helping them receive life in Jesus Christ, pleases God.

And there is no greater miracle than for one who was once an enemy of God and a rebel of righteousness, dead in their own sin, to become a child of God and made alive through Him.

Invite ushers to distribute communion

Titus 3:3–8 ESV

3 For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another. 4 But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, 5 he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, 6 whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, 7 so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life. 8 The saying is trustworthy, and I want you to insist on these things, so that those who have believed in God may be careful to devote themselves to good works. These things are excellent and profitable for people.

Titus 3:1–8 ESV

1 Remind them to be submissive to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for every good work, 2 to speak evil of no one, to avoid quarreling, to be gentle, and to show perfect courtesy toward all people. 3 For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another. 4 But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, 5 he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, 6 whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, 7 so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life. 8 The saying is trustworthy, and I want you to insist on these things, so that those who have believed in God may be careful to devote themselves to good works. These things are excellent and profitable for people.

Philippians 2:1–11 ESV

1 So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, 2 complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. 3 Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. 4 Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. 5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, 6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. 9 Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Jesus’ seeking and saving of the lost, of you and me, came at the cost of His life.

Jesus took the bread...

Jesus took the cup...

Band come up here

We are going to respond to God’s Word together by singing two songs.

The first may be new to some of us, but the second is known all around the world.

As the band takes their places, I want to share with you one more passage of Scripture:

1 Timothy 2:1–6 ESV

1 First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, 2 for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. 3 This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, 4 who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. 5 For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, 6 who gave himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time.