Looking For the Remote

Looking For the Remote

Intro - This has been a rough week really, a rough couple months. Sparing you all the details, which aren’t really important, I have been struggling a bit ever since Zander left us. There are lots of reasons for that, not worth really getting into. But that all came back to the surface in spades this last week when we were interviewed to adopt another child. We were one of two families, and as you can already guess, we were not chosen.

As if that weren’t enough to anger, and confuse, and bring down, this morning I played the role of the elderly woman who fell down and couldn’t get up as I tumbled down the stairs into our basement. Sometimes if it isn’t for bad luck it seems like we would have none at all.

And as I was laying there, all those feelings that were present already came rushing to the front of my mind.I felt like snapping. I felt angry, I felt doubt, I felt lost.

It was like this blanket of evil thoughts was laying on top of me, this darkness and lostness. And in that moment, I am grateful for a single quote that I was to offer this morning. “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”

And in our lives, yours as in mine, sometimes we feel like we are lost - like everything is broken. And in those moments evil creeps into our lives and world. And as long as we are silent, church, it will continue to grow in us and in the world.

So we speak up. Even when hurt. Even when we don’t understand. Even when it seems like the most difficult and uncomfortable thing to do. Ultimately, we must never shy away from bringing light and love into this world, and reaching a world lost in pain and trouble and doubt.

Luke 15:1–10 ESV

Now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear him. And the Pharisees and the scribes grumbled, saying, “This man receives sinners and eats with them.” So he told them this parable: “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? And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. 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.’ 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. “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? 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.’ Just so, I tell you, there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”

Pray

[lookingfortheremote]

Have you ever lost your remote? I know that sounds funny, or at the very least completely off topic, but really - have you ever lost it? In my house the remote vanishes all the time! When we let the girls watch TV they take turns choosing what to watch. Naturally, then, if they are choosing they will get the remote. And when they have it, if they have to get up to go to the bathroom, or get a snack, or just get distracted with something else, they will take the remote with them.

It’s like gold! Well, at least until they see something else that is interesting. Then they will put it down and forget about it. Before you know it, it’s time for Columbo and I can’t find the remote!

So there we are - a relatively sane family not overly addicted to television, turning over cushions, tearing apart beds, looking over, around and under every single thing in the house just so we can find this silly remote!

It really is amazing the lengths we will go to just to find a remote - something we can certainly live without.

Maybe for you it isn’t a remote. For some it is a phone. Or our glasses. Or our favorite book. Whatever it is, there are things in life that when lost cause us to turn everything upside down just to find them. They mean everything to us in that moment. Even if it doesn’t make sense.

[womanlookingforcoins]

That is the point Jesus is making here. How attached we get to our stuff! How important those things are to us - so important in fact that when we find them we act as if God has shined His light and presence directly into our lives! After all, I found the remote!

And while the point to the Pharisees would have been evident here in this parable, the subplot - which is often the most important plot - likely escaped their attention just as it escapes ours.

You see, this woman who lost what would be something between a couple hundred and a thousand dollars, was so excited to find these coins, that she went out, invited everyone in, and then spent almost all of it throwing a party!

That point not withstanding, Jesus is proving to us and to the Pharisees an important point. We value money - stuff - more than we value people.

[sittingiwithtaxcollectors]

You see this whole story is happening because the Pharisees objected to Jesus dining, hanging out with, just loving sinners. They thought that God was only pleased to be with the righteous. They were legalists. They thought, just as many do today, that God only loves those who adhere to a human set of expectations. They take scripture - at least some scripture - and pull it out of context to serve as a rule of thumb for all of life. A guide to what God must be thinking. So they took the ceremonial cleanliness rules from Leviticus and Numbers primarily - rules intended to keep safe a culture from preventable diseases in cases, and to preserve a perceived order and ritual that they felt called to preserve, and removed them from their place in time and acted as if they were the only rules that really mattered.

If you were unclean in any way, there is NO way, they thought, that you could ever be close to anything Holy. And understand that to them, being unclean was the same as being a sinner to us. We know that from just the word used there - hamartōlós - which literally means one who has experienced a loss from falling short of some expectation. A sinner.

So if you eat the wrong food, wear the wrong clothes, happen to be a physically mature woman experiencing her cycle, have most illnesses, even touch someone who has been near a dead body - much less yourself been near one - or if you associate with or are related to any of those previous things and countless more - you are unclean.

And if unclean, you are a sinner, unworthy to know God. You have fallen short of the expectations of those around you, if not God.

Now before we scoff too much at that thought we need to examine ourselves. Because what Jesus is hinting at here is at the heart of the issue for them and us. You see it isn’t just about the exact purity laws. It is about valuing ANYTHING enough to set that expectation above the unending love and Grace of the God who created all things! And in particular, allowing those things - or ANY THING THAT ISN’T GOD HIMSELF - allowing those to matter more to us than the object of His love and Grace would be, to Christ, the actual way we would fall short of His expectations of us.

And we fall prey to that just as much as they do. We have standards for faith. We have behaviors that are acceptable - even if sinful - that we think are somehow allowable as Followers of Christ. And anything that doesn’t fit into our ideas of faith, and worse yet, our ideas about how the world should be run or life should be lived is somehow considered completely unacceptable.

Just like them, Jesus is reminding us that we value the wrong thing.

[picofhomelesschildren?]

Church, we have to look at the principles about which Jesus is speaking here and apply them to our modern paradigm. After all we aren’t shepherds! So when we read this it is more like, Jesus asking us - “what person who has plenty of resources, plenty of freedom, plenty of comfort, doesn’t leave or use AT LEAST SOME OF IT when they see that there is one who does not.”

Make no mistake, this text isn’t about sheep. It is a parable after all. This is about all those around us. All those who hurt. All those who are oppressed. All those who lack basic care and basic needs. All those who can be helped by us both individually and corporately if we stop standing on ceremony and on our social and political ideologies and start standing with the God who offers Grace and mercy to all people regardless of their effort! Regardless of their contribution to society! Regardless of ANYTHING approaching a worthy payment for forgiveness and eternal life! A payment that NONE OF US could ever make either!

Instead we turn away from them. Some of them we lock in cages, with no medical care, or place to sleep. Some of them can move from house to house in a foster care system that does its best to provide love to those we have the capacity to love, but do not, if only because of our desire to let someone else take care of the problem seem to outpace our love for those who most need love. We have the capacity as a society to eradicate homelessness and hunger, but refuse to do it because we convince ourselves that they just want a hand out - completely forgetting the Christ that calls for us to give whatever we can to comfort and feed and clothe the least of these!

Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?

For some of us, that answer is never. And further, we wouldn’t even want someone else's money to help them either, just because some talking head convinces us we shouldn’t.

They are the lost sheep. You see, this isn’t about what we call “lostness” culturally church. This is about those sheep who have been separated from the rest - for whatever reason, after all, you can see Jesus offers no cause for the separation! This is about a sheep - a person - who is alone. Who is crying out for help. Who is sleeping on concrete, or under an overpass, or whose belongings all fit in a trash bag. A person, and more often than not a child - someone who bears the image of God Himself - whose situation is perilous. They are surrounded by those who would take their lives, who would take what little they have. There is no hope. There is no help. We can try to convince ourselves that someone else will come in and save them, but hear this clearly, followers of Christ are called to bring His love into their lives through our actions!

Without you. Without you. Without you. Hear that again, because that is the entire point of what Jesus is saying here, and what His life was all about!

Without you they will die alone.

Without you they will stay lost - in every way.

I, the Lord of sea and sky,

I have heard my people cry,

All who dwell in dark and sin

my hand will save.

I, who made the stars of night,

I will make their darkness bright.

Who will bear my light to them?

Whom shall I send?

Refrain: Here I am, Lord. Is it I Lord?

I have heard you calling in the night.

I will go, Lord, if you lead me.

I will hold your people in my heart.*

[picofJesussheepshoulders]

Those are “the unclean” to us. God’s people. Lost and hoping for someone to bring the love and hope they need to make it in life. Sure this is just as much about “sinners” who are lost in the spiritual sense, but understand parables aren’t to be interpreted so literally. That wasn’t their function. So just is just as much an indictment on our reaction to lostness - both physical and spiritual!

After all - what Christian, having everything they need - church, family, a home, friends - wouldn’t leave ALL OF IT to go save a lost child of God?!?

That is what Jesus is asking! If you follow me, He would ask us, why wouldn’t you give up all that you have to help another? After all, I gave up everything for you!

Instead, we spend our time looking for our remotes. Giving our time and energy and even worse - our concern - to things that don’t matter! You don’t need that remote. You don’t need those coins. You don’t need whatever frivolous thing or policy that you spend your time dwelling on! We need to take the energy and time we give to finding those comforts in life and move it towards finding help and hope for those who most need it!

You know I hear all the time about Christianity’s demise. Pastors tell me that they need more programs, or a different worship service, or service time. If only we had that, maybe the world would still believe! Maybe our church would be bigger! And there is a whole world of problems in that idea, by the way.

But the truth is, Christianity will never die. But if people don’t believe as they once did, it can only be because they aren’t seeing Christ in us.After all, He is sufficient. And when we fail to think first about the least of these - as Christ calls them; when we would rather look for the best schools for our kids away from those who are hurting and different, or the best neighborhoods, or houses, or places to eat, or friends - when we spend SIGNIFICANTLY more time thinking about ways to denigrate, and divide, and dare I say, if we think more about what restaurant we are going to in a couple minutes or why Jeff is still rambling on about this than we do all those people - especially the children around us who won’t eat or sleep, or feel loved, there is no wonder why the world doesn’t want to know our God.

[picofhook- O there you are]

Church, the text reminds us, the entire Gospel tells us that sinners, the afflicted, the hurting, the homeless, the destitute - through whatever means and whether by their own inaction and laziness or because society more broadly - they were all drawn to Jesus. And in those moments He shared what He had with them. Food. Love. Healing. Comfort. He came for the lost sheep of which we are all the foremost.

And he came for them because they bear His image. Just as you do.

I want to close with that idea, because honestly I think that is the most true to Christ’s message here. We are all sheep. God is the shepherd. We are ALL the same. And we all must care for one another. But church, inside every person there is this image - a divine imprint - that is just waiting to be brought to life. And it is up to us - those who now understand that they belong to God - it is up to us to show the world that they do too.

In the movie Hook, this middle aged man is transported to neverland to find his kids. He doesn’t remember it, but he is Peter Pan. Life, as it does for us all, has made him into something else. Where he once cared about people, he now cares about money. He focuses on promotions and advancement at all costs. He wants to provide for his kids, after all, so why be concerned about anyone else! To the victor go the spoils.

He has become, as Captain Hook calls him, a pirate. Someone concerned about success and winning, never worrying about the lives that are left in the wake.

Eventually he is brought to the lost boys - who if you don’t know their backstory are intended to represent lost children. Children given up who would wander the streets in London. Children, like those among us today, who would have been put in cages or told there is no money or food or homes for them - just pick yourself up by your bootstraps we would say. So these lost boys are hopeful that he is Peter, because honestly, Peter was the only person who ever loved them.

But time has hardened Peter’s heart, and changed his appearance. Like us not looking like Christ to the world, Peter looked like a businessman. Unkind. Stressed. More concerned for process and purpose than love and kindness.

So they are arguing about whether or not this Peter guy was the Pan - a Christ figure in the story by the way. And they are jumping back and forth over this line in the sand intended to show their allegiance as the lost boys find reasons why he was or wasn’t. They kept doing that until one remained.

This last little boy refused to leave. He just stared at Peter. No matter what he saw in that moment, no matter the reason for the change in this person, this child was going to find a reason for this to be the Pan. He knew it was inside him, even if no one could recognize it. So he mussed his hair. He pushed on his skin a little. He pulled off the glasses, those lenses through which we all see the world. And then he kept stretching his face until all the unkindness began to vanish, and the true image - the truth self - had been revealed. And seeing it, convinced both the lost boys, and Peter himself, that he was the Pan.

Oh, there you are Peter.

2 Corinthians 13:5 ESV

Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you fail to meet the test!

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Church if you have tuned out because you think I have been too harsh on us all, or because you just don’t like what I have to say, tune back in for just a second.

Underneath everything time has done to us. To you. To me. All of us. When you can take off those worldly lenses through which we see our reality. When you stop caring about bottom lines and success. When you realize that underneath all of that lies the heart of a child that once found all the hope, love, and mercy that could ever be needed in Christ - when you see that truth, God says that same thing.

There you are Jeff. There you are. I just knew you were underneath there somewhere.

And when you finally understand that, you will look at everyone in the world as the precious child of God that they are. Your hope will turn from those things that we think are so important, and will become a hope that seeks to wipe away their tears, take away their pain, to put them on your shoulders and carry them, to put their face in your hands as you wash away the pain of this life and say “there you are, you child of God.” God was in you all along, I just couldn’t see it. And for that I am so sorry.”

Church, just like Peter Pan, and like you and me, they will never see it until you do.

But church, you have seen it. You have experienced that overwhelming love. That love that chases you down wherever you are! Addiction, hate, destitution, abuse, loneliness - the love that saves us from our lostness! You know that love that fights for you! You know that love that never lets you go! So church, bring that love into the hearts of those who most need it! CHANGE YOUR HEART! CHANGE YOUR MIND! TURN AWAY FROM THOSE THOUGHTS THAT MARGINALIZE AND TURN YOU HEART TOWARDS THOSE WHO MOST NEED HELP, HOPE, LOVE - TO THOSE WHO MOST NEED YOU!

After all, just as we couldn’t earn God’s love, and don’t deserve it - still God gives Himself for us. It is time for us to give our lives to the world church. It is time to be a follower, and not just a fan.

[invitation]