Luke 15:1-10 LOST pt 1
Over Spring break we rented a lake house on Lake Livingston. It was pretty great—right on the water with a big grassy backyard. Kim and me and dad, Angel and his girlfriend Liv, we even brought our dog, Zack—who never gets to go anywhere. Angel’s only request was that we find a place with a hot tub.
So the first night we’re all outside relaxing in the giant jacuzzi, the dog is laying on the deck, we’re talking about all the things—it’s a pretty great moment. After a while, Kim goes into the house to change and the dog follows her, the rest of us are still hanging out.
Maybe five or ten minutes later we hear a dog barking—it’s way off in the distance. Angel says, “is that Zack?” I said, “Nah, that sounds like it’s coming from the other side of the lake—I think he’s inside with mom.”
But the dog keeps barking. After a few minutes, Angel goes into the house to make sure the dog is with Kim. He comes back out, “the dog’s not in the house.”
So he and his girlfriend, Liv, grab their phones for flashlights and head off across the backyard looking for Zack. The stupid dog had fallen into the lake. It’s a man-made lake with a five or six-foot wooden wall making a hard drop-off to the water. Poor little guy was treading water against the wall and desperately barking for help. Angel jumped in and got him out—the dog was fine. I don’t know how much longer he would have been fine.
You would think he learned his lesson, right?
Next morning my dad opens the back door to let the dog out and he bolts. Sprints across the yard and runs under the neighbor’s house. Ugh. He spent the rest of the time on a leash.
Today we’re looking at the lost chapter of the Gospel of Luke. The lost chapter! Mysterious. Nah, it’s just Luke 15—Jesus tells three stories about things that are lost. How He came to find them. It’s the heart of the Gospel of Luke, so good. We’ll look at the first two stories today and save the best one for next week when we hopefully have a bunch of guests.
Luke 15:1-2
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.”
I don’t think we hear this with as much shock value as we’re supposed to. “Now the commie draft-dodgers, terrorists, drug dealers, sex workers, prostitutes, strippers and pornographers were all drawing near to listen to Jesus. And the moral majority, Sunday school teachers, pastors, good church-going folks and patriots were grumbling—saying Jesus hangs out with the wrong people. That’s how this would have sounded to them. It all sounded wrong—tax collectors were traitors and sellouts. Pharisees and scribes were the good guys who were trying to make sure people read their Bibles and did what it says. This was completely scandalous. You’re not going to understand why they killed Jesus if you don’t get this. The way we feel about people we think are dragging the country down the drain is how the Pharisees felt about Jesus and the people He was hanging out with.
“This man receives sinners and eats with them.” They meant that as the worst insult they could come up with.
But we don’t hear it that way, do we? “Jesus receives sinners and eats with them.” We hear this as the sweetest Gospel. Because we know they’re talking about us. You and me. Thank God Jesus eats with sinners. That means we have a chance. We have a prayer. We have hope.
The whole mission of NewChurch is to be a place where Jesus can receive sinners. The vision of NewChurch is to someday be a place that’s open all week long for all of us sinners to receive other sinners and eat with them.
The tax collectors and the sinners were drawing near and the religious leaders were grumbling, insulting Him and pushing Him away. But this is the audience for the stories Jesus is about to tell. Sinners who were listening with open hearts on one side, and self-righteous stubborn jerks on the other.
VERSE 3:
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? Luke 15:3-4
Earlier we sang, “Leaves the ninety-nine.” This is what that song is talking about.
There’s a shepherd who has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. The shepherd represents God, the sheep represent His people—The shepherd is Jesus and the sheep are His church.
NewChurch is about a hundred people. Just saying.
So one of the sheep runs away. Did you know the word “pastor” means “shepherd?” People say I shouldn’t take it so hard when people leave the church. Hmm. Says who?
So one sheep runs away from the safety of the flock. It’s alone, vulnerable, starving. Could get caught in some thistles, could fall in the river, or a pit, or get eaten by a wolf. The world’s a dangerous place and sheep are dumb.
So Jesus says, “what shepherd wouldn’t leave his 99 sheep in the open country and go after the one who was lost?”
The way the question is asked, it sounds like He’s asking what shepherd in his right mind wouldn’t just leave the 99 alone and vulnerable while he goes and searches for the runaway. If that’s the case, the answer is probably “none,” no shepherd would risk his whole flock to go find one stupid sheep. That would be like someone who was guarding a stack of money and left it out in the open while he chased a dollar that blew away in the wind.
But within the logic of the story, the 99 are safe within the community of the church. Also, a flock that size would probably have more than one shepherd. So I don’t think we’re supposed to worry about the safety of the ninety-nine.
Jesus says the shepherd goes searching for the lost sheep until he finds it. It might take a while.
VERSE 5:
And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. Luke 15:5
We’ve all seen the paintings. It’s a lovely image—Jesus the good shepherd carrying the cute little lamb on His shoulders. The sheep would probably have to be carried because, in its stupidity of running off, it would be weak. And it’s not like he could trust the little lamb to follow him back home.
There’s a thing some shepherds do—it’s not mentioned anywhere in the Bible—but some shepherds, if have a sheep that’s prone to running away (like the sheep in our story) when he finds the lost sheep he would break its leg. Then he’d carry it around on his shoulders until the leg healed—make the sheep dependent on the shepherd and less likely to run away again. Like I said, I don’t know if this is what Jesus has in mind with this particular story but it does drive home the idea of God disciplining His foolish sheep and protecting them from their own stupidity. It also changes the cuteness factor of those paintings a bit.
But this story doesn’t mention the harsh consequences of what happens to runaway sheep—only the joy of the shepherd when he finds it.
VERSE 6:
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. Luke 15:6-7
Remember the audience for this story. Jesus is hanging with some dirty rotten sinners—runaway sheep that He has found. They’re listening to Him. They repented of their sin, he picked them up and carried them with joy back to safety. Back to the party. That’s why He’s eating with them—rejoicing with them. They were lost but now they’re found.
The Pharisees didn’t think of themselves as sinners. They would have understood themselves to be the ninety-nine. They didn’t think they needed to repent—but they were wrong about that. It’s the whole point of Jesus’ story.
John the Baptist came preaching repentance and they wanted nothing to do with it. Jesus came preaching repentance and they didn’t want anything to do with that either, they thought He was the problem.
They were pretty sure they were better than Jesus. He’s the one who needs to repent. Can you imagine? They thought they were way better than the sinners He was hanging out with. They would never do such a thing! And they absolutely didn’t see anything to rejoice about!
Foolish Pharisees, right? How could they be so dumb? They just don’t get it.
I wonder if we’d do any better. Like if God filled up our church with people who looked like nasty sinners to us. The wrong kind of people. I wonder.
Have you gone to see the movie “Jesus Revolution?” It’s in the theaters now. Tells the story of the Jesus movement. There’s this one scene where a bunch of hippies show up for church—one side of the room is filled with barefoot, longhaired, dirty hippies. The other side of the room has grumpy church-going people wearing suits and dresses. One grumpy old man stands up, looks at the preacher in disgust and walks toward the door. A moment later another old dude stands up, makes eye contact with his grumpy friend, and goes over to sit with the hippies. It’s my favorite moment in the movie. Everyone is to be welcomed into the church to hear about the love and grace of God. No one has to get cleaned up and put their life in order first.
If something like that were to happen here at NewChurch—who are the outcast marginalized people who might not feel welcome here? It’s probably not hippies. Who are they? What do they look like? If half our church was filled up with people you think look like they don’t belong here, people you don’t really want to be here—who would those people be? What do they look like? Whoever you’re picturing in your mind, you need to pray that God will change your heart toward them.
Jesus tells another little story designed to drive the Pharisees a little more crazy:
VERSE 8:
“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.” Luke 15:8-10
This time it's a woman who loses something. Luke does this a lot, records stories that have a man and then a woman—or the other way around. There’s not an ancient book that treats women with more dignity and equality than the Gospel of Luke. I just want to point that out to anyone who feels the urge to complain about Christianity being so patriarchal.
In the first story, it was a sheep that ran away from the flock and was lost outside. There’s a certain amount of autonomy to a sheep—they can do whatever they want.
In that story, the shepherd represented Jesus and also represents all of us as we’re on mission to go into all the world and seek the lost. In this story, a woman loses a coin. I don’t think it’s a stretch to say the woman represents the bride of Christ, the church.
We go from losing 1% of the sheep to losing 10% of the coins. Instead of a runaway sheep being lost outside, a woman loses a coin inside her own house.
Kind of like how I’ve lost some of you just now. Your minds wandering off. Checking out. Oh, “hi, are you back?” Ha
The Word of God is a lamp to our feet and a light to our path, remember? This is the point of the sermon. I’m going to keep shining it and sweeping trying not to lose anyone.
So she searches her house, looks in every crack and in every corner until she finds it. And what does she do when she finds the missing coin?
She breaks its leg!
No, she gets all the ladies together for a party. Probably spends more on the party than the coin was worth! Like you do, right? Makes no sense. Just like the shepherd who left his flock to find the runaway.
Jesus is telling stories that are exaggerated to make a point. He’s eating and rejoicing with sinners because they were lost and now they’re found. He wants the Pharisees to know they should be ashamed of themselves for being critical of Him bringing lost people back into the house of God. Saving them. They have repented and God has forgiven them—this calls for joy, not criticism.
Let’s talk about repentance.
What does the word make you think of? If someone says you need to repent? If you see a crazy guy on the side of the road with a sign that says, “repent before it’s too late!”
It’s an important word if we’re going to understand why Jesus came to earth—what happens when He saves us.
The Greek word is metanoeo. It means “turn toward, pay attention, turn back, convert.” It also means to change your mind, change your thinking, have a change of heart. All these ideas are about having a new self, behaving in a new way, and having regret over former behavior and ways of thinking. These stories are about repentance. The whole Gospel of Jesus Christ is about repentance.
We always seem to think “repent” is something we have to do in order for Jesus to save us. I want to challenge that a little.
What did the sheep do to repent? Nothing. Well, I guess it ran away so it could be found.
What did the coin do to repent?
The point of the sheep story is the joy in heaven over one sinner who repents. The point of the coin story is the same, “there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents.” The coin also represents the lost sinner just like the sheep.
So, what did the coin do to repent? I don’t think coins can do anything.
Ephesians chapter two says, “You were dead in the trespasses and sins… But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ… by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.” That’s repentance.
LOST You’re the sheep. All you did was run away and get lost. Jesus came down here and searched until He found you. He found you, you didn’t find Him. He repented you. He turned you around and restored you.
You’re the coin. You were just lost. Sitting there in the dark. There was nothing you could do about it—just sit there in the dark until the end of time. The Word of God shined on you like a light, He found you, picked you up, dusted you off, and held you as His precious treasure. He found you. He repented you.
Romans says the kindness of the Lord leads you to repentance—the goodness of God. It’s His idea. He finds you. He never finds you where you should be, it’s always where you are. People talk about finding God, finding Jesus, finding faith—that’s backward. God is the seeker. He found you.
And when He did, He rejoiced before the angels of heaven—I’m sure they like to see Him happy. I think the question for the Pharisees is, “why don’t you want to see God happy?” Pharisees then and Pharisees now.
If God ever lets us get our own place, if we ever get to open NewChurch Pub, if we ever get to eat and drink with other sinners like us—I’m sure there will be no shortage of modern Pharisees who’ll want to criticize us for being worldly, try to shut us down, bad mouth us on social media and talk about how evil we are. Some of you might even be tempted to join in. We’ve had people leave NewChurch when they hear us even talk about doing such a crazy thing. “Pastor Frank wants to open a tavern! That’s not right!”
I want to do something that helps us find lost sheep. Lost coins. People lost out there and people lost in here. People who don’t feel welcome here—who aren’t going to walk into a church any more than the tax collectors and sinners were going to show up at synagogue. And for the same reasons.
The church has done a terrific job of letting the lost know they aren’t really welcome here. Not until they repent. Not until they’re where they should be. Not until they change.
Not until they find their own way out of the lake.
That’s not how grace works. Grace jumps in and pulls you out of the water.
Jesus came to seek and save the lost. Like you and me. We show up on Sunday morning to be thankful that He found us and dragged us in here. Found us in the dark and brought us into the light. He’s rejoicing. He’s inviting us to join Him—both in seeking the lost and rejoicing when they’re found. Don’t fight it. Be repented—“turned toward God, paying attention to Him, turned back to Jesus, converted, your mind changed, your thinking changed, your heart changed. You’ve been given a new self, the power and wisdom to behave in a new way, with real hope for today and the promise of a real future. Who else do you know that needs these things? Let’s grab our phones for flashlights and go find them. AMEN