Different Kinds of Lost

Introduction

Luke 15 NIV

Now the tax collectors and sinners were all gathering around to hear Jesus. But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.” Then Jesus told them this parable: “Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Doesn’t he leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.’ I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent. “Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins and loses one. Doesn’t she light a lamp, sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it? And when she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost coin.’ In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.” Jesus continued: “There was a man who had two sons. The younger one said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of the estate.’ So he divided his property between them. “Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything. “When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired servants.’ So he got up and went to his father. “But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him. “The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ “But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate. “Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on. ‘Your brother has come,’ he replied, ‘and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.’ “The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him. But he answered his father, ‘Look! All these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!’ “ ‘My son,’ the father said, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ ”

Lost and found illustration? What is the most important thing you have ever lost? I lost my SHSU ring just a couple weeks after getting it.

Have you ever lost something and then later found it in someone’s lost and found. Nothing like it, right?!

Luke 15 is all about God’s lost and found. The context is important. Jesus is speaking to a diverse group of people. He has done just enough to begin catching the attention of the religious folks who feel threatened by him and by the sinners and tax collectors. Sinners and tax collectors are specific terms used here by the author because the point is that they are the ones that are not welcomed by the religious community, the Pharisees. The crowd would be tense as Jesus would jump into teaching that would imply that all people there: religious and non religious, teacher and sinner, Roman tax collector and expert in the Jewish law, are all on the same level playing field. He is about to point out that this lost and found collection has different items but they are all still lost.

We start here tonight because before we can even be sent we have to know what it is to be found. (and being found infers being lost) So like the diverse crowd we join in to hear these stories that Jesus is going to share.

Luke 15 NIV

Now the tax collectors and sinners were all gathering around to hear Jesus. But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.” Then Jesus told them this parable: “Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Doesn’t he leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.’ I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent. “Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins and loses one. Doesn’t she light a lamp, sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it? And when she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost coin.’ In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.” Jesus continued: “There was a man who had two sons. The younger one said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of the estate.’ So he divided his property between them. “Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything. “When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired servants.’ So he got up and went to his father. “But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him. “The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ “But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate. “Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on. ‘Your brother has come,’ he replied, ‘and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.’ “The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him. But he answered his father, ‘Look! All these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!’ “ ‘My son,’ the father said, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ ”

Text here?

Different kinds of Lost

I want to begin by considering what Jesus has identified as being in this lost and found:

Lost sheep

Missing coin

Prodigal son

sometimes overlooked, there is another missing person in our last story, the older brother

Let’s look at these one at a time:

The sheep that took a wrong turn

We do not have the details of the sheep wandering but if you know anything about sheep this wasnt like a prodigal escape. Sheep didnt think to himself, well forget this shepherd, I am sick of being told what to do and he took off. No for the sheep security, food, family, belonging was all with the flock and the shepherd. Still sheep are prone to wonder haphazardly (no wonder we are compared to sheep so frequently in scripture). How did it happen? Probably one quick distraction, or something that scared the sheep, or something that look tasty to the sheep and before the sheep knew it she was lost from the flock and the shepherd.

The coin that just disappeared

This one was always interesting to me because it is about an inanimate object surrounding by sheep and human both lost....things with pulses at least, right. But still, I think this one will be important for us tonight. The coin with no doing of it’s own is lost. misplaced. fell out of the pocket. You know what its like to lose that sock, remote, keys, or pocket change down into the couch. This coin is gone. The coin is lost.

My Son Luke just hides stuff non stop

The son that ran away

Then there is the prodigal son. Most of us have heard some of this story in some form. The son decides he wants to do things his own way. Asks for his inheritance and takes off. When he asks for the inheritance he is essentially telling dad, I wish you were dead. He takes off and squanders everything. Foreign country, no one to turn to, nothing to eat, or no way to provide for himself..... He is lost.

The son that was lost at home

Up to this point the theme was the same. Something was lost, then it was found and a celebration ensued. Then the pattern is broken right at the end. There is another brother in the prodigal story. He is the older brother, the one who stayed at home and did what he was supposed to. Stuck to his responsibilities, was waiting patiently for the day when he would become head of the household, day in and day out. And he was mad about all the hooplah caused by the Father over the other son. He was mad at the other son, made about everything. What’s interesting is Jesus is telling this story in a specific way for his audience. See he opened talking to Sinners, tax collectors, and

Luke 15:2 NIV

But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.”

then in the closing verses of this narrative the story turns towards them. The ones who were lost at home. Or lost and they didn’t know it.

Look closely at this interaction:

Luke 15:28–31 NIV

“The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him. But he answered his father, ‘Look! All these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!’ “ ‘My son,’ the father said, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours.

Luke 15:28-

The brother seems to proclaim “I am not lost,” and the Father says....yes you are.

Same kind of different as me:

One of the best books I have ever read is a true story about a wealthy suburban white couple and a homeless black man and the way they changed each other’s life. It’s called “Same kind of Different as me.” Denver, the homeless man, has had a very rough life. He has become harsh and violent after decades of racism and injustice and suffering at the hands of brokenness in the world. Debbie and Ron begin to serve at a homeless shelter in the burbs of Dallas Fort Worth. That’s where they meet Denver. Early on it seemed that they were just too different to be real friends. Ron and Debbie were facing their own issues but they were different than Denvers. Still they stuck it out. At the end of the story Debbie has lost her fight with cancer and Denver is the one she wants to speak at her funeral. In reflection of this journey he says.....

“I used to spend a lotta time worryin that I was different from other people, even from other homeless folks. Then, after I met Miss Debbie and Mr. Ron, I worried that I was so different from them that we wadn't ever gon' have no kind a' future. But I found out everybody's different - the same kind of different as me. We're all just regular folks walkin down the road God done set in front of us. The truth about it is, whether we is rich or poor or somethin in between, this earth ain't no final restin place. So in a way, we is all homeless - just workin our way toward home.”

I think Jesus chose these seemingly random ways to talk about being lost. The sheep, the coin, the prodigal son, the older brother. Different but the same kind of different....lost. See there is not some degree of lostness to this story, just how aware of the lostness that they are.

So where are you tonight?

Have you just slightly wondered off the path? distracted or afraid or saw something that looked good and did not even realize what was happening.

Maybe you feel like you have been misplaced. Like you have no idea how you got here, feel like if you were ever in “God’s pocket, then you fell into the couch some how.” We do not choose our families, or where we are born, or some of the things we have to endure around us

Maybe you are the prodigal. Ran from home, away from everything because you were selfish or thought you could do it on your own and do it better, maybe you have chosen self-indulgence so that you could enjoy your life and missed the grace available for you

Maybe you are the older brother, grown up in church, 15th UM Army, or the adult volunteer here this week, serving, showing up, and just feel like you are missing something.

I believe this story is for all of us. You are the same kind of different as me

The Search

And do you know what else all of these stories have in common? They all have a rescue mission and a celebration.

The shepherd leaves the flock to hunt down the one that wondered off.

The lady begins to search every crevice and crack of the house

The Father waits eagerly, knowing that the greatest searching he can do is allowing the son to figure these things out. The father runs down the road at the first glimpse, and goes out to the older brother.

“We cannot find God without God. We cannot reach God without God. We cannot satisfy God without God—which is another way of saying that our seeking will always fall short unless God’s grace initiates the search and unless God’s call draws us to him and completes the search.” 

― Os Guinness, The Call: Finding and Fulfilling the Central Purpose of Your Life

Just like there are not degrees of lostness, there are not degrees of found. There is just lost and found.

Saying Yes to God

See the great misconception about faith and Christianity is that this is some kind of construct we do to be good. To help out where we can. We are supposed to be good people. And yes there is a level of truth to that but I know I for one fail at that. We over complicate things.

“We are not wise enough, pure enough, or strong enough to aim and sustain such a single motive over a lifetime. That way lies fanaticism or failure. But if the single motive is the master motivation of God's calling, the answer is yes. In any and all situations, both today and tomorrow's tomorrow, God's call to us is the unchanging and ultimate whence, what, why, and whither of our lives. Calling is a 'yes' to God that carries a 'no' to the chaos of modern demands. Calling is the key to tracing the story line of our lives and unriddling the meaning of our existence in a chaotic world.” 

― Os Guinness, The Call: Finding and Fulfilling the Central Purpose of Your Life

What does it mean to say “Yes” to God?

Throughout the week you will have opportunities to hear the voice of God, the prompting of the Holy Spirit to say yes....tonight and first and foremost it is your yes to Him as a believer. As someone who for the first time or yet again knowing that there is a need to turn back to Him once more.

Saying yes to God means that Jesus is the most important “yes” in your life.

It means that you are ready to follow him. To follow the one who would leave the 99. To follow the one that died for you. You will not be able to work out all of the implications of what this means. I am still learning over 10 years down this walk. But when you know, you know.

This “yes” takes priority over any other “yes” in your life.

That means over any sport, over family, over dream college, over these small desires, everything else falls in line behind this.

This “yes” changes some of your “yes’s” to “no’s”

Finally, for some of you tonight, you have been saying “yes” to things that you shouldn’t be.

Listen, I know that for some of us we might roll our eyes at this, or we might assume we got it. I know that for the context of Jesus audience there were many that did not get it. Especially the crowd who didnt think they were lost.