What Matters to God?
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Last week we began a new series called Created for Significance. I want to begin this week by telling you once again that you are significant in God’s Kingdom. You have a place in His kingdom. You have an important role to play.
Today, I want to ask each of you a question. What’s really important to God? What truly matters to God?
When I was a kid, I use to get in the mail the Highlights kids magazine. I absolutely loved this magazine. My favorite part of this magazine was at the very back of the magazine and it was called Hidden Pictures. It was a picture and in it was several different items that really didn’t belong in the picture but they were drawn into the picture to make it look like they belonged. They would list those items and then you would search the picture and try to find those items. I would skip everything else in that magazine and go to that first. That was my favorite part.
When Mailey was little we got her that magazine for a while as well and I would help her try to find the hidden pictures.
Today, our scripture is about hidden things. If you have your bibles, go with me to Luke 15. We are going to look at two of the three stories here and then next week we will look at the third in more detail.
The first two stories are about a lost sheep and a lost coin. The third story is the most famous. It is about a lost son.
Let’s begin reading at verse 1.
1 Now the tax collectors and sinners were all gathering around to hear Jesus.
2 But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.”
3 Then Jesus told them this parable:
4 “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?
5 And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders
6 and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.’
7 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.
8 “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?
9 And when she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost coin.’
10 In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”
11 Jesus continued: “There was a man who had two sons.
It is in these stories that Jesus points out the two types of people that God is searching for. Each of us in this room falls into one of these two categories. Those two types of people are the fully committed and the lost.
1. The Fully Committed
1. The Fully Committed
Let me begin with the first type of people, the fully committed. In order to explain this to you, we need to go back to a time in the Old Testament. There was a well-intentioned king of Israel named Asa. He came under attack from the neighbor to his north. Asa was a seasoned king who had been at war several times before, and in those previous battles, Asa’s strategy was to do the best he could to array his troops tactically, and then pray that God would fight for them.
And God always did. As a result, Asa never lost a battle.
I want to say something right here. If you ever finding yourself about to go into a spiritual battle, don’t go at it alone. You will have a much better outcome if God goes with you.
One time, Asa was attacked by a vastly superior force from Ethiopia. In customary fashion, he arrayed his troops and then prayed. Here is what it says in 2 Chronicles 14:9-11
9 Zerah the Cushite marched out against them with an army of thousands upon thousands and three hundred chariots, and came as far as Mareshah.
10 Asa went out to meet him, and they took up battle positions in the Valley of Zephathah near Mareshah.
11 Then Asa called to the Lord his God and said, “Lord, there is no one like you to help the powerless against the mighty. Help us, Lord our God, for we rely on you, and in your name we have come against this vast army. Lord, you are our God; do not let mere mortals prevail against you.”
This was Asa’s prayer. Look at what God did. Verse 14.
12 The Lord struck down the Cushites before Asa and Judah. The Cushites fled,
That is what it was like for Asa for most of the first years of his reign, but as time went on things would change and several years later when King Asa is older and more established, He is being attacked by a king in the north. This time though King Asa is reluctant to go into battle. Now Asa has more to lose than he used to when he was just a young king starting out.
So now, in his conservative days, instead of going to battle, he takes money from his treasury and pays the king of Syria to attack his rival from his eastern flank. That way Asa risks nothing. He lets somebody else do his fighting for him.
Something we go to remember, God is always watching. God was watching Asa closely. God knows all about the hostile king of Asa’s northern border. And he is so disappointed when Asa takes the comfortable way out that he sends a prophet to Asa, who name is Hanani.
Go to 2 Chronicles 16:7-9
7 At that time Hanani the seer came to Asa king of Judah and said to him: “Because you relied on the king of Aram and not on the Lord your God, the army of the king of Aram has escaped from your hand.
8 Were not the Cushites and Libyans a mighty army with great numbers of chariots and horsemen? Yet when you relied on the Lord, he delivered them into your hand.
9 For the eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him. You have done a foolish thing, and from now on you will be at war.”
Do you see what happened here?
God knew the predicament Asa was in.
It was a chance for Asa to do good and express faith. To be fully committed and prove it.
God needs fully committed people who won’t flake out when it gets hard or there is a lot a stake. God wants to know how committed you are.
In our stories in Luke 15, you have 3 very committed people. You have the shepherd that would not leave his lost sheep behind. You have the woman that lost her coin and searched the house diligently to find and you have the father that would go out and look over the horizon to see if his son was returning. They were fully committed. They did not give up on the task at hand. Are you committed?
Paul was an example of being fully committed. Once he committed his life to Christ he was fully committed. Look at what he says in Philippians 1:20-24
20 I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death.
21 For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.
22 If I am to go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labor for me. Yet what shall I choose? I do not know!
23 I am torn between the two: I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far;
24 but it is more necessary for you that I remain in the body.
You can look at a Christian in two different ways: those who marvel and those who are marveled at. Greatness comes to the Christian when they become committed to the cause of Christ.
Think about an athlete for a moment. They become great when they make a total commitment to their sport. They fully understand the need to do what is best for their bodies. Their commitments become a matter of life and death. The committed athlete enjoys a challenge but is always pressing for even greater challenges. Greatness comes to an athlete who is willing to sacrifice everything.
It is easy to settle for a marginal life. Most people do. But God has a better plan for His people: greatness—the kind that comes only through a life of commitment!
Why do we have people here to take care of your children? So, that we can bring up another generation of believers. Why do we have people here committed to teaching you God’s Word? So, that we can give you the answer to any problems that this world will try to throw at you. God needs fully committed believers to fulfill the calling that God has placed upon your life. Fully Committed believers matter to God.
Don’t be fully committed only when it benefits you like King Asa. Be fully committed like Paul.
The second Group of people that matters to God are those that he describes as the lost.
2. The Lost
2. The Lost
It is for the lost people that God needs the fully committed.
In our text Jesus tells the stories of three lost items: a sheep, a coin, and a wayward son.
The people He is telling this to is a group of tax collectors, sinners, Pharisees and teachers of the law. Jesus probably made it a point to reach out to the tax collectors and sinners because those were the lost people that Jesus wanted to reach. The Pharisees were probably looking on from a distance because to associate with tax collectors and sinners would mean that they were unclean. And Jesus begins to tell them these stories.
The first one was about a shepherd that lost one sheep. He had a flock of 100 sheep and one goes missing. It was not uncommon for sheep to wonder from the flock. A shepherd would go in search for that one lost.
During Jesus times many rabbis of that time believed that God received the sinner who came to Him the right way. But in this parable, Jesus teaches that God actively seeks out the lost. He does not grudgingly receive the lost; instead, He searches after them. God finds the sinner more than the sinner does find God.
The next story is about a woman searching for a lost coin. Palestinian women would often receive ten silver coins as a wedding gift. Besides their monetary value, these coins held sentimental value like that of a wedding ring; to lose one would be extremely distressing. The ten coins could have been this women’s life savings, meant to support her in a time of need. Upon discovering that one of the coins was missing, the woman would light a lamp in order to see into the dark corners, and sweep every part of the dirt-packed floor in hope of finding it. Although the woman still had nine coins, she would not rest until the tenth was retrieved. Her search was rewarded.
The third story was about a wayward son that left his father’s home, received his inheritance early and spent it all on wild living. We will talk more about this story next Sunday.
Notice what happens when each of these is found. There is rejoicing. What was once lost is now found. Look at what Jesus says about each.
7 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.
10 In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”
When lost people are found there is a rejoicing in Heaven. God celebrates when His lost children come to repentance.
As I was thinking about this story, I reflected back to those many years ago and even taking the time to do those hidden pictures with Mailey. When we would find all of the objects that were hidden, there was a rejoicing over us finding those items. And just like us finding those items and the joy we experienced, how much more joy is there when someone that has wondered away from God comes back to the faith. God rejoices. And just as God rejoices, we should rejoice.
People matter to God. Each and every soul matters to God. And if they matter to God, then they should matter to us. If we are true Christians, then we will be the fully committed that do the diligent work to go and search for those that are lost. We should do our part to make sure that every soul is found. We should put it in our heart that every person matters to God and therefore they should matter to us.
Remember there are two types of people. Those that are lost and those that are fully committed.
God loves those that are lost so much that He has enlisted the help of His other children, the fully committed to go and join the search for the lost.
Only the fully committed reach out to the lost.
Only the fully committed serve long hours at the church so that it’s a place where the lost can get found.
Only the fully committed pray diligently for their friends who will otherwise spend a Christ-less eternity.
Only the fully committed alter their spending habits so they can render the full tithe and fund ministries that reach lost people.
Only the fully committed stay up late, dreaming of ways to reach out to their lost friends and neighbors.
Only the fully committed look out of eyes that see as God does, thinking first about others and second about themselves
Only the fully committed...
Only you can decide to become fully committed, to go after the lost, to do the work that God has called you to do.
How many of you would be willing to be fully committed to the Lord today?
Also, how many of you would be willing to pray for God to give you a heart for lost people today?
Now, how many of you have come this morning and you say, I am a seeker and I want to be found. I want to accept God’s invitation to be his son or daughter based on the price Christ paid for your sins?
Or maybe that step was too bold for you, but you’re willing to say, “God, I will become a seeker who’s searching today.”
I want to pray for each of you. Let’s pray