Grow: Lost and Found

The New Revised Standard Version The Parable of the Lost Sheep

15 Now all the tax collectors and sinners were coming near to listen to him. 2 And the Pharisees and the scribes were grumbling and saying, “This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them.”

3 So he told them this parable: 4 “Which one of you, having a hundred sheep and losing one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the one that is lost until he finds it? 5 When he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders and rejoices. 6 And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and 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.

The Parable of the Lost Coin

8 “Or what woman having ten silver coins, if she loses one of them, does not light a lamp, sweep the house, and search carefully until she finds it? 9 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 in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”

Introduction: Growing

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about what it means to grow.

Not because of plants or anything, I kill those with alarming regularity.

I have twice killed a cactus in my care, which as one stand up comic put it means that I am less nourishing than a desert.

But I’ve been thinking about growth in terms of what it means to be better as people.

I just wrapped up a year long coaching program with some of the brightest minds in church leadership.

The very nature of coaching is growth.

We started the year at point A, and then we arrived at point B.

And in between the two was a whole bunch of work, prayer, persistance.

So I’ve been wondering, how do WE grow?

How do we grow as a church?

How do we grow as people?

How do we grow in our faith?

How do we become more like Jesus?

And this morning’s texts are both an excellent place to start.

Bible Breakdown: 1 Timothy

Paul Knows Exactly Where He Starts

Paul is extremely clear in the text we heard this morning that he knows where his point A was.

He’s named three areas in his life that he really doesn’t love are a part of his past.

Blasphemer- Someone who thinks more highly of themselves than God.

Sometimes this word gets confused.

People assume that to blaspheme is only to assert that you are God, or to besmirch God’s name or something like that.

But really what Blasphemy is is when you consider yourself more important than God.

It’s when you know what God wants, but you think you know better.

It’s when you understand who God has called you to be, but you would rather pursue your own dreams and passions.

It’s arrogance on a level that not many people get to.

Paul did.

Persecutor- Someone who opposes those who don’t think like him.

Again, this word can get a little muddied in this day and age.

Lots of people claim they are persecuted.

Really, to be a persecutor is to believe that your way is the only way, and that anyone who won’t fall in to line ought to be punished.

It’s to draw the party lines so tightly that anyone who can claim this particular badge of honor is welcome in your group, and anyone who steps even a toe outside is to be mocked, ridiculed, ostracized, or worse.

Paul was a Pharisee, and they were pretty good at this.

But Paul in particular took it a step forward.

A man of violence

This is not the same thing as stubbing your toe and throwing a pillow in response. Not that I’ve ever done that...

A person of violence is one who thinks that violence is not only AN option, but it’s the first one they come to.

When your quarterback gets sacked, you start punching the other team.

When your country is losing relevance, you start a war with your neighbor.

So when you’re persecuting someone for being outside your tribe, you kill them.

You don’t have to look too far to find this stuff in our culture right now, do you?

The arrogance of our culture is truly impressive. We are blasphemers.

Our whole American culture right now is built around a partisan divide that is frankly getting ridiculous, with everyone inventing their own tribe and then attacking anyone who is outside it.

And when that doesn’t result in how they want, these tribes turn to riots and insurrections and violence.

I should note too, be careful not to assume that this is other people.

We all kind of do this from time to time.

But then Paul introduces a new word in to this text, and he uses it a lot.

Mercy

This is the Greek word elewo.

It means mercy, pity, or especially compassion.

But what’s interesting in this word comes with a grammar lesson.

The importance of passive verbs

Mercy only shows up here in this text, and in fact in most of the NT, as a passive verb.

Mercy is something that happens to you, not something that you can make happen.

Mercy is something that you receive, not something you earn.

Mercy is a gift that God offers his people.

Our job in this construct is to be open to receive mercy.

In much the same way that a flower can’t will water to fall from the sky, the nourishment of Mercy is something that we rely on but can’t earn.

It’s a gift.

A saying worth leaning on:

Paul here uses the word pistis, which is faith.

As we’ve said before, faith is something you lean on, put weight on, trust.

So Paul isn’t just saying that this is a neat idea that we should inscribe on our coffee cups.

This is something to stake a life on.

Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost.

Jesus didn’t come in to the world for good people.

My hunch would be, looking around the church in America, that some people have messed this up.

They assume that because they’re Christians, they’re good people.

They do it all right all the time.

They can solve their own problems with their own strength.

First of all, good luck with that!

I cracked a smile every time I thought about a person who thinks they do it all right all the time.

I think my batting average is about .100 at best when it comes to getting things right on the first try.

We screw up, we hurt people, we offend each other, we say what we don’t mean, and we give ourselves over to systems of pain and difficulty without resistance.

But secondly, someone who feels that way, that they are totally good Christians, they don’t need Jesus.

Jesus came in to the world to save screw ups.

Jesus came in to the world to save arrogant blasphemers, who think too highly of themselves too often.

Jesus came in to the world to save persecutors, and to show us there’s a better way forward than divide and conquer. We can be people of untie and welcome.

Jesus came in to the world to save people of violence, and whispered over them “Father forgive them” while they violently took his life.

Jesus came in to the world to save people who’s mouths work faster than their brains, who are always saying hurtful things they wish they could take back.

Jesus came in to the world to save people who are battering well below 100.

It’s important to know where you start.

When the word sinner gets tossed around, I’m sad to say, that includes you and me.

Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, and we…you and me…we are the foremost.

Bible Breakdown: Luke 15

Jesus hung out with a rough crowd

The good news for us is that Jesus seemed to like that crowd!

Jesus spent so much time hanging out with sinners that he got a reputation for being a glutton and a drunk.

They don’t teach that much in Sunday School, do they?

The religious leaders hated him for it.

The religious leaders, who very much thought they were too good for this Church stuff, absolutely hated Jesus for hanging out with the rough crowd.

He had a reputation.

One of my goals in life is to get in trouble for the kind of people we welcome in to church.

I would love nothing more than for the word around town to get out that The Lab welcomes sinners.

I would love nothing more than for everyone who doesn’t have a place to go to be able to call this place home.

I would love that kind of reputation.

We have some growth to do in that area.

Two Stories, but really three:

In response to these holier than thou religious leaders, Jesus told three stories.

We got two of them in the lectionary today, but you know the third one too.

The parable of the lost sheep

A guy who looses one of his 99 sheep decides to leave behind the rest, also known as any hope of a livelihood, and chase after the one that got away.

Against all odds, he finds the one, and he brings it home.

And as if it wasn’t financial idiocy to leave 99 sheep and chase after one, he calls the whole town together and throws a party.

(Shepherds didn’t make that much to begin with. This dude probably can’t afford a party)

The parable of the lost coin

The second story puts it in even starker relief.

A woman had ten dimes, and she lost one.

So she turns the whole house over, desperately looking for her dime.

And just there, behind the couch cushions, there’s the dime.

She finally found it.

What does she do? She invites all of her friends and neighbors to her house to celebrate finding 10 cents.

She spent more money to celebrate finding the coin than the coin was worth.

Crazy, right?

The parable of the lost son

The third story we didn’t read is the prodigal son.

We know this one.

The younger brother takes half of the fortune, blows it on bit coin, and comes home disgraced.

But the father throws him a party, welcomes him back to the family, and goes crazy in the celebration.

This story has a different ending though, doesn’t it?

The older brother pitches a fit.

He doesn’t love that they are celebrating a brother who could be so reckless and horrible while he’s been so faithful and true his whole life.

Two big points to take away from these stories:

Celebrating is ridiculous and necessary!

I love that Jesus tells these stories as if the celebration would be obvious.

“She found her dime! Let’s have a feast, because of course we will!”

And part of me thinks that’s Jesus trolling the religious leaders, trying to point out how ridiculous they’re being.

But the other part of me knows better: This is how Jesus views us.

When we come back home, when we are the recipients of that mercy, when we open ourselves up to receive what Jesus offers us, Jesus celebrates.

Not just once either.

I get the feeling that every day that we open ourselves up to mercy, every day we work to celebrate that mercy, every day we offer ourselves to God’s kingdom, Jesus celebrates.

Even if it’s only a dime’s worth of redemption.

Because that’s the other point of these stories.

We’re the lost ones!

Sheep are dumb. They can’t work their way back home.

They have to be found.

Coins can’t move. Once they’re in the cushions, they stay there unless...

They have to be found.

The son did for sure make his way home, but it was the father that saw him a long way off and ran to him.

This son of his was lost, and is now found.

We are the lost ones.

And coming to terms with that is the real trick to growth.

Knowing where we start is the only way we’ll ever get to where we’re going.

Coming to see our status as the lost ones as a joyful thing and not something to be ashamed of is critical to the process.

Placing our faith in the saying is the beginning of it all: Christ came to save sinners, and that includes you and me.

GROW:

Name where you’re starting

I am horrible at directions.

This weekend I was away at Deep Creek Maryland performing a wedding.

The cell service there is…well…it just isn’t.

So my phone, without which I am worthless, could tell me where I was going.

But it didn’t know where I was, so it was absolutely no help to me most days.

If we’re going to embark on a season of growth, do we know where we are?

Could we name the ways that we are lost?

Could we identify with Paul the places that we’ve lost our way?

Are we willing to go there, to confess at least to ourselves, or maybe even a trusted brother or sister?

I invite you as we embark on this season to actually write it down.

Where are the places you would like to improve in your faith?

Where do you most frequently get it wrong?

How are you the chief of sinners, just like Paul?

It’s a hard exercise for sure, but it opens up some exciting possibilities.

Name Where You’re Going

When I entered the coaching program that just wrapped up, I had a few goals.

I wanted to get better at preaching every single week, which was something still pretty new at the time.

I wanted to be a better reader.

And I wanted to gain confidence in my abilities as a leader.

Just naming those three things at the start helped focus me on where I wanted to grow, and sort out some of the things that others were working on.

If someone was making book recommendations. If someone had a really killer youth group idea, I was only slightly less interested.

If someone had some advice on their preaching routine, I tried it out. But I stopped short of trying out my buddies volunteer training program.

And confidence, well the fun part of that is that the only thing you can do about it is screw up a bunch and learn how to pick yourself back up.

Naming where you’re going is an essential piece of getting there.

Where do you want to grow as a person in this next season of life?

Where do you want to increase your faith?

Where do you want to get closer to Christ?

Where do you think our church is going?

Again, write this down!

Take some time this week to name where you want to grow.

And if you’re up for it, again, share with a neighbor.

Knowing where we’re going will help us get there.

Know that Mercy is the Only Thing that Will Get you There

Again, I have road trip on the brain because of this weekend at Deep Creek.

But to get there, I didn’t just need a working phone GPS system.

I also needed gallons of gas and coffee.

A plant, in order to grow, is completely reliant on the sun, the rain, and the weather, things that are all outside its control.

If we are going to grow this year, we are going to have to rely on mercy.

We are going to have to admit that we’re lost, and that Jesus is the only one that will find us.

We might have to get comfortable with him celebrating and making a fuss over us from time to time.

And we need to place our faith in the idea that Jesus Christ came to save sinners, and that includes you and me.

You can’t earn it.

You can’t produce it.

You can’t make it happen.

You can’t will it into existence.

But Christ’s mercy? That’s the fuel for our growth.

May we be open to receive it.