Devotion for CFSC - 9th Sept 2019

Luke 15:1–10 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.”

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Today’s devotion is taken from a passage that is probably not unfamiliar with most of us here...

it is the story of being lost and being found,

and i’m sure it is the passage upon which many many sermons are based on...

in fact, it is part of what is called the lectionary reading for this coming Sunday,

which is a book containing extracts from the bibles that had been appointed to be read at an public worship...

So, for a period of time, no matter which church you enter on a particular Sunday,

you know for sure which passage the sermon will be preaching from…

and this forms the basis of my sharing for this morning...

and i’m going to attempt to extract a few points for our reflection...

and the first point i want to point out is that something good was happening in this story...

Background of the Story

here we have, a great teacher collecting the outcast in the society...

they have the chance to listen to God’s words, they have the chance to be redeemed,

the tax collectors who were the traditional bad guys in society...

and the sinners… well, they are sinners...

and here they are, being interested in the gospel...

the tax collectors who were traditionally the arrogant people were willing to listen to a great teacher...

the sinner were ready to listen and seek truth...

what a glorious day it was...

what wonderful situation...

and what did the best students in keeping the law and experts in the law do?

experts in the law do?

they grumbled...

and i don’t know about you, but i think it would be quite discouraging for Jesus...

and what is a lectionary?

imagine you are trying to do something and someone from your inner circle goes against you...

which is what is happening here...

The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church Lectionary

A book containing the extracts (‘pericopes’) from Scripture appointed to be read at public worship.

it is a book that contains extracts from scriptures appointed to be read at public worship

the very people who were supposed to be the most conversant with the practices of Judaism, the ways of the temple…

and it is adopted by many of the mainstream churches all around the world,

to know the heart of God…

was going against the works of God

and that’s why Jesus said the two parables here...

which was to tell them that they were missing the point...

why are we looking at the 99 sheep that are already in the open field where they are safe?

they are not going to get lost?!

on the other hand, better to look out for the 1 sheep that is because it is weak and hence falling back from the pack and is in danger of being consumed by wild animals...

it’s just like you telling me that you cannot go for lunch because you need to ensure that the person sitting on a chair will not fall down and you’re now staring at it, just to make sure...

it doesn’t make sense...

better to spend your energy, trying to prevent a frail aunty to get from one place to another...

as for the coins, similarly, if the coins are already there, why should we spend time and energy lookig for it?

they are inanimate objects...

they wouldn’t move anywhere...

but the coin that is missing…

they are the ones that need to be found...

yet, the phraisees and the scribes are busy looking after their own need...

they are continuing to feed those who are already in their community and are already found...

they are looking at the sheep that is already safe, they are looking at the coins that are already in the pocket...

why?

perhaps it is easier to look at sheep that are already in the sheep pan than to look for lost sheep...

perhaps it is easier to look at coins in the pocket and gloat at their achievement than to look at the coin that is missing...

and it became a polemic or an attack against the pharisees and the scribes...

why are we continuing to build the people who are already being fed?

to the sinners who were the lost sheep, they could identify with Jesus’ lost sheep and would rejoice being the ones who were accepted into the Kingdom and the shepherd was simiarly joyful...

to the tax collectors, they could identify with the joy of finding the lost coins,

to the tax collectors, they could identify with the joy of finding the lost coins,

both the sinners and the tax collectors who were outside the traditional circle were able to understand and identify with the story...

they were lost but were now found...

but the ones who were supposed to be within the holy circles ironically were not able to understand and couldn’t identify with the story...

they were supposed to be found but were now lost...

so what lessons can we draw from today’s lesson?

1. Ignore the nay-sayers...

no matter how good a job you are doing, there will always be people who are against the good that you do...

here was Jesus, the greatest teacher in history...

God made flesh and dwelling among mankind...

the alpha and the omega,

the pinnacle of social services and the great teacher...

he is the one who look out for the vulnerable and the oppressed,

why are we

healing the sick, blind, deaf and dumb, and drawing in the outcast...

he was the great social reformer, giving hope to the poor

yet, he was criticised...

And if literally the perfect man who is God himself was criticised for the great works he did...

what about us?

so don’t be discouraged when discouragement come in your ways...

listen to this...

you are doing great job here… you are being used by God as instrument of His love and grace in this world...

you are making a difference in the community here and you are His precious tool of care,

forwarding his agenda of reaching out to the vulnerable in the community...

Don’t let the noise get to you...

2. Celebrate the successes

when the lost coin was found, when the lost sheep was found,

there was celebration in the one sinner lost being found...

if you look at the statistics, it may seem to be numerically insignificant...

one of out 100 sheep… that’s one percent...

one of out 10 coins… that’s 10 percent...

the angels didn’t wait for many sinners to repent before rejoicing,

each one who repented was already reason for rejoicing...

in the same way,

your job is hard...

changing ppl is hard..

changing situations is hard...

and you may not see much successes...

but don’t let that discourage you...

because you are not looking at the 99 sheep that are in the safe place...

you are not looking at the 10 coins in the pocket...

you are looking at the 1 sheep that is in the worse place possible...

the 1 coin that is perhaps stuck in a crevice somewhere...

See the good that God is doing in your midst...

celebrate the small victories and enourage one another...

the boy who has gone one more day without self-harming...

the uncle who has gone one more day without beating up his wife...

the aunty who has gone one more day without gambling...

because of your partnership with God...

that’s significant in God’s eyes...

keep doing the great work and let the one day be one week and let the one week be one month and so on...

be each other’s cheerleader and celebrate the small successes...

Prayer response

one low point… point of discouragement

one high point… point of victory...

pray