Lost and Found
You know, Jesus had a way of cutting through all of the
pretentiousness that he encountered during his time on earth here. He cut right to the chase so to speak. Jesus used to, as my grandmother King used to say “Just knock off the icing and get to the cake”
Jesus knew the thoughts in the hearts of men and he used parables to explain his message. He would use examples from the daily lives of the people so they could grasp the deeper meanings of his words.
The Pharisees were always looking for Jesus to slip up so that they might condemn him, have him arrested and be rid of him.
They were not looking at him as a savior but as one who threatened their hold over the people and the power that came with this control. Kinda sounds like the church today doesn’t it?
Jesus cut through all of the junk and got right to the point by talking about the lost sheep, the lost coin and the prodigal son, these were subjects that the Pharisees knew oh too well.
Sheep were a very valuable commodity to the Hebrews. They were used for trade, food, clothing, shelter, and sacrifice. They were so important that Jesus knew that they might get what he was trying to tell them.
Sheep need constant care. They have to be led to areas where there was enough good food and still water. Sheep are eating machines and they need to feel safe and secure or they will not be able to eat enough to survive. They are very skittish creatures. They will not drink from water. Left on their own, sheep will wander and get lost. They do not know they are lost, they are just eating, moving along from spot to spot looking for the greenest grass to fill their desires. The shepherd then will have to leave the flock and find the lost sheep.
The shepherd will go out and find this sheep and bring it back into the fold. The next day this same sheep may go off and do the same thing
over again and the shepherd will go out and find it again. If this bad behavior continues, the shepherd will break the sheep’s leg so it can not wander off again and the shepherd will carry that sheep over his own shoulders until the leg heals. This process takes about six weeks. During this time of healing the shepherd carries this sheep with the flock, cares for it, feeds and waters it, sleeps with it. After this time of healing has passed the sheep rejoins the flock and will never again wander away from the fold. Has God ever broken your leg?
There are many people in the world that fit this description. They don’t know they are lost. No one has ever cared for them or loved them enough to tell them about our great shepherd so they are just out in the world wandering, looking for greener pastures and finding danger, death and destruction going wherever their thoughts lead them until something happens to “break their leg”, to hobble them so God can get their attention. Then somewhere, someday someone tells them about Jesus and what he has done for them and they are made whole and are taken back into the fold. Then there is rejoicing! A party!
This second story we hear of a woman who had ten silver coins but lost one. Silver was another valuable commodity back then and for someone to lose a silver coin was a very serious deal. This coin may have represented several months or maybe a years worth of wages. No one today can afford to lose a year’s wages or even several months wages so it was a very serious deal.
Now you have to think back to what houses were like back then. They were dark, dingy and they had open windows. The leaves would blow in and accumulate. If the coin fell on the floor and rolled into a corner it would lay there and soon be covered with dust, dirt and leaves. The only way to find it was to do a major house cleaning. The furniture would be moved outside, candles and torches would be lit, the dirt floors would be swept out with a straw broom to find this coin., That’s how important it was to find this lost coin. Once the coin was found the homeowner would have a celebration.
There are a lot of folks out in the world who are like this. They had something of great wealth, maybe someone told them about Jesus and they followed him for a while but got careless and walked away from the church. They soon realized that they were lost and began to sweep out the dirty, dusty corners of their lives, their Spirit houses and found the precious thing that they had lost. One they had found that which was lost they were so overcome with joy that they celebrated. It was that precious and important to them.
Then we come to the story of the prodigal. The Pharisees knew the symbology very well and I have to think that by now Jesus had gotten their attention. I can hear them murmuring to each other, “Is he talking about us?”
This younger son did something terrible by asking for his inheritance.
He was basically saying “I wish you were dead”. He would not have received anything under normal circumstances unless his father had died. The father took no offense but gave the boy his inheritance, which he squandered. It was all good times until the money ran out and hard times hit. The word says that the young man came to his senses. He knew that he was lost. He realized that things were always better in his father’s house. He realized that even the lowest slave on his father’s estate had it better than he did in his present state.
He came to his senses and decided to go back to his father and just be one of his father’s slaves. I imagine that all the way home he practiced what he was going to say to his father. “I’m not worthy to be your son, I just want to be your slave and serve you” or maybe he thought “I’ll just ask to sleep with and care for the livestock. I won’t even ask for a bed”
The word says that the father saw him while he was still far off and ran to meet him. As the prodigal began his speech, the father didn’t listen to him. He paid his speech no mind, he just threw his arms around his son and hugged him. He called for new sandals and new clothes to be brought out and put on this lost son. He called for the family ring to be placed on his finger and then the called for a party to celebrate. He was rejoicing that this son that was lost has now been found.
This young man new he had been lost. There are a lot of people who have been in the church that turned away until things got so bad that they decided to return. We knew the right road to travel but something said to us “There are more fun times and greener pastures to be had if we just leave and go over there. Everything will be alright, just leave and go, don’t look back”.
Then we come to our senses and realize that we are lost, undone and out of the fellowship with God our Father. So we return, heads hung low, feeling down and out but aware that if we can just get back to God then we can through ourselves at his feet and plead for mercy and just be a slave.
It is wonderful to find that while we were lost our father never gave up on us. He was always on the lookout for us to return and we were welcomed back as a son, or daughter. New shoes and clothes were put on us, the ring of God’s house was placed upon our fingers and God threw a party in Heaven where the angels rejoiced that we had returned.
I want to bring your attention to the older son for a few minutes. I believe this son represents the Pharisees of his day some of us in the church. He was lost and didn’t know it. The word says that he got mad at the return of his brother and would not go in. He made his father come to him.. He manipulated his father to come out to him where he complained about the party going on. He said that “I have been with you always, done everything you have asked of me, I have worked like a slave but you didn’t even ever give me a kid so I could party with my friends.”
The father told him plainly that all I have is yours. This older son pouted and never acted like a son. He acted like a slave and never gave his father the respect he deserved. He worked hard out of a sense of responsibility and duty, out of tradition, just waiting for his father to die so he could collect his inheritance.
This son owned everything but would not take ownership or responsibility for the household. He could have at anytime taken the fatted calf and partied with his friends but he never realized the riches he had access to or control over. This son owned everything but never realized it.
There a lot of folks in the church who come to every meeting, every service, are active in the work of the church, go out and work on the various projects going on. They have done the work out of tradition, habit, out of a sense of responsibility or a sense of duty, just as this oldest son had done his entire life, but they have never really known what it means to be a son or daughter of the master and taken ownership of all that was made available to them.
They have never really met the Savior and dedicated their lives to him. They have never let the Holy Ghost into their hearts. They are lost but don’t know it because salvation is by grace through faith, not of works lest any man should boast. Works will not save us. Traditions and church attendance will not save us. Only the blood of Christ can wash away our sin. Only belief in Jesus, repentance, and confession that He is Lord can give us eternal life in him.
I ask you today, do any of us fit into any of these categories?
Are you lost in some way or another? If you are lost and know it, this alter is open to you so that you can meet this Savior that I love so much. You can receive salvation and eternal life through Jesus Christ today.
If you are lost and don’t know it I pray God will melt your heart and open your eyes and ears so that you may come to know him as father, not as slave, but as a son or daughter in his household where you have access to all the riches in glory, and all the power and grace that comes from the father.
Come to him, take your place at his side as a son or daughter of the house and let the party begin!!!
Amen
