He Came To Seek & Save The Lost
I Am Jesus – part 7
1Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through. 2A man was there by the name of Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was wealthy. 3He wanted to see who Jesus was, but being a short man he could not, because of the crowd. 4So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore fig tree to see him, since Jesus was coming that way. 5When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today.” 6So he came down at once and welcomed him gladly. 7All the people saw this and began to mutter, “He has gone to be the guest of a ‘sinner.’ ” 8But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount.” 9Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham. 10For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost.”
- Luke 19:1-10
We are in our 7th week of our year-long series, ‘I Am Jesus.’ A message series where we are taking a fresh look at the one who boldly walks on the crashing waves of our lives. A message series where we are taking Jesus out of the little box that we have for Him in our minds (you know that box where Jesus never asks us to do anything uncomfortable, where He always agrees with you)… A message series where we want Jesus to become all that He really is… SO THAT – we can become all that He desires us to be. AND UNDERSTAND – for us to eb all God created us to be we need more than a flannel board Jesus.
AND LAST WEEK – in our effort to see, understand and know Jesus better – we began looking at Jesus, His Purpose… (why he came)… AND – last Sunday we saw that the one of the reasons why, Jesus came was to demonstrate the unconditional, unfailing and enduring forever love of God. AND – we also met ‘sock baby’ who encouraged us to let God love and to then go out and love God’s rag dolls…
THIS MORNING - we are going to talk about how Jesus came to seek and save the lost… AS - Jesus himself said in the passage we read earlier… “…the Son of Man came to seek and save that which was lost.” (19:10)
AND – what I want to do or at least attempt to do – as we take a look at Luke chapter 15 is to reveal the heart of the Father in regards to lost people; How does God feel about the lost – what is his desire for them?
NOW – most of us have heard the stories in this chapter many times before… I MEAN - the parables of the lost; sheep, coin & son are not new to us… BUT – as CS Lewis once said; “we don’t need new truths as much as we need to be reminded of old ones…”
Prayer…
OKAY – raise your hand if you have ever played the game hide & seek… NOW – hide and seek is a very simple game. One person seeks and everybody else runs off and hides. And, if you are playing hide and seek, the fun part is to be one of the hiders. BECAUSE - If you are one of the hiders, you get to be in control. You get to decide where you are going to go. You get to keep your eyes open. You get to call the shots.
YOU SEE - the hard job in hide and seek is to be the one who has to seek. I MEAN – after you get this job you have to let everyone run away from you – AND THEN, you have to keep looking for people who are trying to evade you, people who are laughing at your inability to find them (which usually makes them easier to find them). That’s why nobody wants that job, because if you take it, everybody is going to run from you and you’ll be on your own.
AND – have you noticed that in the game of hide and seek, that the one who gets stuck with the job of seeking doesn’t even get much of a title. I MEAN - in other games you at least get an exalted job description. TAKE – basketball for instance, you have a center and he is the one around whom the action flows. Then there is a forward, and at least that has a progressive kind of sound to it. The guard is somebody who is protecting something that matters. But in hide and seek, it is not that way.
QUESTION – what do you call the one who seeks in hide and seek? Anybody know? "It, they’re called it.." Not "Commander It, “President It” “Prime Minister It” not "C.E.I. - Chief Executive It," not “Mr. it” not even "Cousin It" (for old Adams Family fans), just plain old "It." And nobody wants to be "It." IN FACT -at the start of the game, what does everybody say? "Not ’It.’
ALRIGHT – another question, what happens at the end of the game, if people have hidden themselves too well, what happens if everyone has successfully eluded "It" through the entire game? (or if it gets called home for dinner?). "IT" - cups its hands and opens its mouth and shouts as loud as it can, words that penetrate the entire neighborhood. "It" ends the game by saying 4 words, "Ollie, Ollie, Oxen free."
QUESTION - did you ever wonder where that phrase comes from? WELL - it is a Latin phrase that means, "Liberate the oxen." No, I’m just kidding – I really don’t have any idea what it means or where it came from.
BUT – whatever ‘ollie ollie oxen free’ means – in hide & seek – it means you can come home now. It means it is now safe to come home. No one will chase you. No one will tag you. You won’t have to suffer any penalties… AND – you won’t have to be “it.” YOU SEE - ollie ollie oxen free, is the cry of grace to people who are hiding, that it is now safe and it is now time, to come home.
WELL – in Luke 15 Jesus is telling a kind of hide & seek story…. A story where there is someone who is seeking and someone who is lost or hiding. AND – do you what the really Amazing thing is, that in this all important game of hide and seek – God has chosen to be ‘it.’ AND – He has chosen to be it forever!
A few years back there was a bumper sticker campaign that was trying to spread the word about God and the possibility of knowing him. AND – all over the place you’d see bumper stickers and bill boards with these 3 words on them, "I found it." IT was a way of striking up a conversation… What did you find? WELL – I found faith, I found truth, I found God… BUT LISTEN – from a theological perspective this is actually backwards. BECAUSE – what the bible teaches is NOT, that I found it – BUT that it (that God) found me…
LISTEN - there is a reason why Jesus tells the story this way. YOU SEE - very often people who are on a spiritual journey, think of themselves as "seekers" or as "searchers." Why? BECAUSE – they seeking for truth, they are searching for God. They ask questions, read books, they go to classes and they attend church all in a search for the truth…
AND LISTEN - it really is a good thing to seek. IN FACT – on January 9th of this year we as a body set out on a year long journey where we are seeking the unseen. WHERE – we are seeking to know the Christ in a richer, deeper & fuller way. AND – our theme verse for this series is from Jeremiah 29:13,14 (and it is all about seeking God); You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. 14 I will be found by you," declares the LORD… Jeremiah 29:11-14 YES - we are seekers.
BUT - that is not the whole story about us, is it friends? YOU SEE - the truth about us is, that we are not just seekers, we are also hiders. LISTEN – it is important for you and I to come face-to-face with our tendency to get lost – to hide from God.
YOU SEE – hide and seek is a game that people have been playing with God since the garden. AFTER - the fall… AFTER - they ate the forbidden fruit, What did Adam & Eve do? THEY - hid from God in bushes… “I can’t believe we did that, Oh no I hear God coming.. quick let’s hide.. I hope he can’t see us…’ AND – God’s people have been hiding ever since….
• Abraham hid in Egypt
• Moses hid in the wilderness
• David hid behind his crown
• Jonah hid in the belly of a huge fish
OKAY – I have 2 questions in regards to hiding from God…
#1 – WHAT; do people hide behind today? NOW – Adam & Eve tried to hide from God behind some bushes… AND – people today hide from God behind things like;
• busyness, activity, pleasure, money, things
• religion, work, an addiction
• ritual, anger, a relationship
• ignorance and many other things.
BUT – whatever it is that people choose to hide behind… the goal, the purpose is always the same… to keep God distant, to keep God from seeing them… Question #2; WHY – do people try to hide from God…? NOW – there are as many reasons for hiding as there are places to hide.… People try to hide from God because;
• They’ve done something wrong
• They want to do or they are doing, something wrong
• They don’t feel worthy
• They are afraid of what God is going to do to them if He finds them
AND – here’s the bottom line, people hide from God because they don’t understand who God is… YOU SEE – if they knew who God was… they would realize 2 things;
• #1 – you can’t ever hide from God
• #2 – you don’t really want to hide from God
QUESTION – have you ever wondered how God feels about you when you are lost? When you are hiding? When you have strayed away? When you left His path to follow your own? WHEN – God sees lost people – what does he see, how does he feel? What is His desire for them?
OKAY LET’S TURN – in your bible to Luke chapter 15, beginning with the first verse…
“Now the tax collectors and "sinners" were all gathering around to hear him. But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, "This man welcomes sinners and eats with them."
QUESTION – what are the 2 groups of people gathered around Jesus at this time? (Sinners & tax collectors) – (Pharisees & teachers of the law…) WHY - were the sinners & tax collectors gathered around Jesus? They wanted to hear him… They wanted to hear the words of life from the master teacher…
AND - why were the religious leaders ticked off? BECAUSE - Jesus wasn’t hanging out with them. YOU SEE – in their minds, if Jesus really was the Son of God he would have treated those sinners like the outcasts that they were… AND THEN – sat around drinking coffee talking about religious stuff with them…
QUESTION - what did these guys misunderstand about both God and His one and only Son? That people; regardless of race, education, color, looks, economic standing, their past or their present condition mattered to God – which brings us to the first point in our outline…
Every Person Matters To God…
Then Jesus told them this parable: "Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Does he not leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, ’Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.’ 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.
OKAY – what we have here is a lost sheep… AND – let me ask you, what do you think the odds are that this sheep will make it back home on his own? NOT – very good. BECAUSE – as we said a few weeks back when we talked about Jesus being the good shepherd… sheep are dumb…
HEY – have you noticed that most animals that have any IQ at all ultimately get some kind of a television series of their own or a movie in our society.
For example, dolphins--very intelligent creature. Anybody here remember the name of a dolphin that had his own television series? Flipper.
How about dogs…Lassie, Rin-Tin-Tin, Beethoven
There are cats like Garfield.
Famous horses like: Black Beauty, Mr Ed, Sea Biscuit
Spiders get their own story: Charlotte’s Web.
And even Pigs: Anybody here ever watch a show called "Green Acres?" Remember the pig’s name? Arnold Ziffel. Arnold Ziffel, whose tail could actually forecast the weather. Babe
BUT – can anybody here come up with the name of a great sheep? And you older people don’t say ‘Lamb chop.’ I hate to say this, friends, but Lambchop was actually a puppet. Lambchop was not a legitimate sheep. It was Sherri Lewis’ hand talking the whole time. I hate to burst your bubble, but get a life, friends. Lambchop was not a sheep.
BOTTOMLINE – sheep are not bright animals. AND sheep are not leaders. They are followers. HERE is what happens there is a whole flock of sheep traveling, and one of them goes over the side of a cliff. QUESTION - do you know what happens to the rest of the flock? They all --every one of them will follow right over the edge of that same cliff…
NOW - you would think that at least one of them, would pause for a moment and say to himself, “you know, Molly went over the cliff and she never returned…. I think I’ll stop and reflect on this truth for a few moments before I go any further.” BUT NO - it never happens that way. The sheep just says to himself, "Well, okay. I’ll give it a try. Doesn’t sound like a ’baaaad’ idea to me."
QUESTION – what is the only hope this lost sheep has? That His Shepherd will search for him and find him…that’s it – that’s his only hope. AND – why would a shepherd do this? BECAUSE – that lost sheep matters to him!
AND GUYS – here’s the point… Why did Jesus come to seek and save the lost… BECAUSE - people matter to God; I love how Bill Hybels puts it; “you will never locked eyes with anyone who does not matter to God…” LOOK - around this room…. Every face you see matters to God… AND - when you leave here and you go out to eat, or you go to the mall…or wherever…. Every face you see matters to God.
AND LISTEN - it doesn’t matter to the shepherd, it doesn’t matter to God how or why people are lost… WHATEVER – the reason he will go out after them… AND – God will go after them individually… BECAUSE – they each matter to Him personally. IN - his book; ‘More Jesus, Less Religion.’ Steve Arterburn (the founder of Women of Faith) writes;
When God calls a man, he calls him personally. When God calls a woman he calls her personally… He tugs at the hearts of individuals, calling them one by one. It is a biblical pattern, repeated time and again. From the time the Creator walked with Adam in the garden during the cool of the day, calling out to him by name after he rebelled and right through the Old and New Testaments we see a God who relates to men and women in a personal way… (we see) stories about men and women who have met a personal God who is not too big to care about each individual. If he knows all the stars and calls each by name (Ps 147:4; Isaiah 40:26), is it too much to believe that he knows and cares about each one of us?
Jesus came to seek and save the lost… AND – when He walked the dusty streets of this world he went after lost people; passionately, individually and personally…. NO – matter WHERE they were… WHO they were… OR – WHAT they were hiding behind… JESUS – went after them.
• He went after Nathaniel as he sat under a fig tree
• He went after a woman who had been married 5 times and was now shacking up as she went to draw water from a well
• He went after Peter as he was casting a net
• He went after Mathew as he sat behind a tax booth
• He went after an invalid as laid by the pools of Bethsaidia
• He went after a prostitute as she anointed his feet with perfume
• He went after a crooked tax collector as he hung from a tree limb… AND – he called him by name… Zacchaeus, come down immediately
UNDERSTAND - people… every person matters to God… (I think that is one reason there is so many lists of names in the bible)… people matter to God.
NOW - the sheep in Jesus’ story does have one thing going for it. YOU SEE – this sheep knows that it is lost. NOTICE – that the sheep does not say to the shepherd, "I’m not in such bad shape. There are other sheep far worse off than me I’ll be fine." NO – this sheep doesn’t say that. This sheep is not in denial. UNDERSTAND – this sheep’s eyes are wide open, it knows it is lost. It knows it needs to be saved.
AND - it is also interesting to look at what the shepherd does not say. The shepherd does not come to the sheep and say the things that we would be tempted to say--"You stupid sheep. You have only yourself to blame. What were you thinking of, wandering off like this? Why couldn’t you be more careful? Didn’t you know the path was narrow, and the cliff was steep and the countryside was filled with wolves? Didn’t you know you this would get you in trouble? Don’t come bleating to me now that you have gotten lost. YEAH - it sure looks like lamb stew for you, my little wooly friend" NO - the shepherd doesn’t say any of these things. INSTEAD - the shepherd just opens his arms and gathers the sheep around him and goes home…. No condemnation, no lecture, just a shepherd so filled with compassion towards the sheep that when he finds it, his heart melts. And what does he do when he gets home… he throws a party
QUESTION – what do you think is going through the minds of the sinners and tax collectors as they heard this? “No way Jesus – I can’t matter that much to the father… Not me. Not where I’ve been, not with all I’ve done… I mean just look at me… “
AND Jesus would say – “Oh yes you do – in fact – the Father has had party plates, cups, napkins and a banner with your name on it since the day he carefully knits you in your mothers womb… And He’s been waiting all this time, to stop all the activity of heaven and throw a party for you on the day you come home…”
THEN - Jesus would look at them and say – “Ollie Ollie oxen free - you can come out of hiding it is safe to come home.” YOU – matter to God…
The next point in your outline is;
Every Person Is Valuable To God
"Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins and loses one. Does she not light a lamp, sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it? And when she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbors together and says, ’Rejoice with me; I have found my lost coin.’ In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents."
NOW – you need to understand that this was more than just a coin; it was kind of like a wedding dowry. In that day there were 10 coins a married woman would wear around her headdress. SO YOU SEE – this wasn’t just any coin— losing it would be like losing the diamond in your wedding ring. AND – what does she do? She lights the lamp, sweeps the house and searches carefully until she finds it! BECAUSE - the coin was valuable to her.
QUESTION – do you feel valuable? Not just when you are in this room… BUT – do you feel valuable; Monday morning? Wednesday afternoon? Friday night? DO – you feel valuable; at home? at work? At school? AND – if you don’t feel valuable, why don’t you? IS IT BECAUSE;
• You don’t have enough money
• You’re not good looking enough
• You’re not smart enough
Steve Arterburn, writes
Too often we base our self-worth on what the world views as valuable. The world thinks that money is a barometer of value, and if we do not have it in great amounts we feel bad about ourselves. Physical beauty has almost become a religion unto itself, and those without it feel no value in a society that judges by the looks on the outside. In this age of technology, IQ is often used to determine who is to be esteemed and who is to be shown the basement.
It is difficult for most of us to measure up. And the more we focus on the world’s standards and values, the more negative we feel about ourselves.
God has a different system, and if our faith is in Him, we can feel tremendous relief. Christ talked about the worth of an individual. His words are good news to all of us who will never be fashion models, billionaires or members of Mensa.
(Mensa was founded in England in 1946 and is a group that welcomes people from every walk of life whose IQ is in the top 2% of the population… The word "Mensa" means "table" in Latin. The name stands for a round-table society, where race, color, creed, national origin, age, politics, educational or social background are irrelevant.).
Jesus came to seek and save the lost… He came to let every person know how valuable they are to God… AND UNDERSTAND – a lot of people Jesus came to… did not feel all that valuable before Christ… I MEAN – how valuable do you think;
• the woman caught in adultery in John 8, FELT
• Or the crippled man in John 5
• the blind man in John 9?
• the leper in Luke 17
• the demon possessed man in Mk 5
• the widow in Luke 7
• the single mom (with the demon possessed daughter begging for food from the table) in pin in Matthew 13
• Or the rich crooked tax collector in Luke 19…
LISTEN BEFORE – Jesus they did not feel very too valuable… BUT AFTER – He came they felt priceless… And they were
QUESTION – what do you think God sees, when he looks at you? What do you think he sees at this very moment? MAYBE – it will you to answer that question by answering this one… What did Jesus see as he looked into the eyes of the sinners and tax collectors who were listening to him tell this story for the very first time…
QUESTION – would you give all the money in your bank account for this pen? Why not? It’s not worth that price, (it isn’t THAT valuable).. YOU SEE – the value of something is determined by the price that people are willing to pay for it….
[Tim…] – that’s why I don’t think you have any idea of how valuable you are to God… CHECKOUT these words in 1 Peter 1:18-20; maybe it will begin to help you see…
For you know that God paid a ransom to save you from the empty life you inherited from your ancestors. And the ransom he paid was not mere gold or silver. He paid for you with the precious lifeblood of Christ, the sinless, spotless Lamb of God. God chose him for this purpose long before the world began, but now in these final days, he was sent to the earth for all to see. And he did this for you.
FRIENDS – could you get anymore valuable then that? And the ransom he paid was not mere gold or silver. He paid for you with the precious lifeblood of Christ, the sinless, spotless Lamb of God…
LISTEN – you are valuable – you are priceless – you are worth the precious lifeblood of Christ…. AND – don’t let anyone or anything tell you, (OR make you feel), otherwise… NOT YOUR; parents, wife, husband, parents, children, boss, friends, enemies, society , your past or your present…
YES - we are valuable and God will light the lamp and sweep the floor… AND – He will search and pursue until He finds us… FRIENDS – 2,000 years ago Jesus Christ, cried from that blood stained cross, “Ollie-Ollie oxen free!” You can all come out now – it’s safe – and there is no penalty – I paid it for you… You - matter to God; you are valuable to God
AND – the third point in your outline IS;
God Wants Every Person To Come Home.
Jesus continued: "There was a man who had two sons. The younger one said to his father, ’Father, give me my share of the estate.’ So he divided his property between them. "Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything. When he came to his senses, he said, ’How many of my father’s hired men have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired men.’ So he got up and went to his father.
The father had everything he could for his Son, but it wasn’t enough. AND – one day the son comes to his father (and remember we are the Son and the father is God). One day the son comes to his father and says, “Dad, I don’t want to be here anymore, I don’t want to live in this house any longer… AS a matter of fact, I’m sick of living here – I gotta get out of here. AND – I don’t want to wait for my inheritance either. I want you to give it to me – I want what’s mine and I want it now.
NOW – the father could have refused his son’s request and made him stay, BUT – he knew it wouldn’t really solve anything. AND – not long after this the son gathered up all he had and left home. AND – not only did he leave home – he left the country – he went as far away as he possibly could from His father’s from house/presence. (QUESTION – how do you think the father felt as he watched his son turn his back and walk away down that dirt road?)
AND – in that far off country, the son forgot all about his father… He didn’t call, he didn’t write, he didn’t come home for the holidays – he didn’t even send an e-mail… He just stayed in that far off land….
AND – this guy really lived it up – I MEAN – non stop partying it was like Panama City during Spring Break time… drinking, drugs, woman…. He was in 5th gear with the top down… BUT – then something happened, the money ran out…. The well went dry and all of his so called friends – scattered like rats on sinking ship…. (ever had friends like that )
AND – Jesus tells us that this guy hit rock bottom… REMEMBER – he is a Jew, and Jews and pigs were not on speaking terms… AND – what kind of job does this guy wind up getting? Feeding pigs… AND – what starts looking good to him? Pig food…. NOW - I am all for a hunk of bacon or a pork chop – but muddy smelly pig food…(I think I’ll pass)
WELL – one morning as this guy was staring at and lusting over a pig pod – I MEAN – he was about to take on the biggest hog in the trough – the light bulb came on – and he came to his senses… “Hey, wait a minute, I don’t have to live like this… I don’t have to be here… I don’t have to sit with the pigs and starve to death… I’m going home… Yeah – that’s what I’ll do – at my fathers house there is food to spare…”
OKAY – and here’s what I’ll do – I tell my father – Father I have sinned against heaven and against you and I am no longer worthy to be called your son – but could you let me be one of your servants..”
Son, is rehearing speech, The father sitting on porch every day,
“But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him
looks like my son, runs… something fathers in that culture never did..
and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son,
something fathers in that culture never did only time we see God in a hurry
threw his arms around him and kissed him. "The son said to him, ’Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ "But the father said to his servants, ’
forget that servant stuff
Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate.
robe – mark of honor ring – pledge of love & sign of authority
sandals – a sign of son ship fatten calf – a sign that it’s party time
Jesus came to seek and save the lost… BECAUSE
• Every person matters to God
• People are valuable to God
• God wants every person to come home
I want to conclude with a story about a woman in Korea right after the Korean War took place. This woman had gotten pregnant by an American soldier. The soldier went back to the United States and she never saw him again. She gave birth to a little girl. But this little girl was very different than the other little girls. Her hair was light colored and curly so she stood out. In that particular culture that meant that child and the mother would be severely rejected by society.
In fact some mothers in Korea who gave birth to children from American fathers actually killed their babies because they couldn’t stand the humiliation, the rejection, the heartache of the way they were treated by other people.
This woman kept her baby and she tried her best to raise this child for seven years she. But the rejection and the humiliation and the taunting and the harassment that she experienced was too much for her. So she did something nobody here could imagine anybody doing. She abandoned that seven-year-old girl to the streets. That little girl wasn’t alone though, because there were packs of little children living on the streets. They would live under bridges and in abandoned buildings and they would go outside of town and live in caves. And they would just eat whatever they could find. They would find stuff on the street – bugs and locusts and roots and things like this.
This little girl was ruthlessly taunted by everybody she would encounter. They would call her the ugliest word in the Korean language. The word that means “Alien devil”. After a while this little girl began to draw conclusions about herself. This is what she would say years later, “When you hear what you are as a little child day after day after day you begin to believe that about yourself. I believed that anyone could do whatever they wanted to me physically because I wasn’t a person. I was inhuman. I was dirty. I was unclean. I had no name. I had no identity. I had no family. I had no future. And I hated myself.”
For two years she lived on the streets. Finally there was a new orphanage that opened up. It had very little money. It was a very primitive kind of place but at least it was safe and it was a place she could go and not be assaulted and attacked and harassed. So they took her into the orphanage. Pretty soon word came that a couple from America was going to come to that orphanage and they were going to adopt a little baby boy. The word went out among all the orphans in the orphanage. This was the best news of all. Some little boy among them was going to have a fresh start, a new chance, a future. Somebody was going to escape from this orphanage. So this little girl, who was now nine years old and who was the oldest child in the orphanage, began to bathe the little boys and clean them up and get them all ready wondering who was it that this American couple was going to choose and adopt and take back to America.
The next week this American man and his wife came. This is what the girl recalled: “It was like Goliath had come back to life. I saw that man with his huge hands lift up each baby and I knew he loved every one of them as if they were his own. I saw tears running down his face and I knew if they could they would have taken the whole lot. Then he saw me out of the corner of his eye. I was nine years old but I didn’t even weigh thirty pounds. I was a scrawny thing. I had worms in my body, lice in my hair, boils all over me and I was full of scars. I wasn’t a pretty sight. But the man came over to me and he rattled off something in English and I looked up at him. And then he took this huge hand of his and he laid it on my face. What was he saying? He was saying, ‘I want this child. This is the child who I want’.”
Then an incredible thing happened with that little nine-year-old Korean girl. An amazing thing happened at that moment. As that man was reaching out to her, “The hand on my face felt so good and inside I said, ‘Keep that up, don’t let your hand go.’ But nobody had ever showed that kind of affection to me before and I didn’t know how to respond.” She said, “I yanked his hand off my face and I looked up at him and I spit at him and then I ran away.”
Can you imagine that? Here’s her window of opportunity. Here’s her future. Here’s hope and what does she do? How does she respond? She spits at him and she runs away.
The next day they came back to the orphanage. And because they understood what was behind that little girl’s hurt and they understood the trauma she had gone through and all these things she had suffered, they understood all that and in spite of her initial rejection of them, they looked at all the children in the orphanage and they went back to that little girl, the one who spit in their eye, and they said, “We still want this child.” And they adopted her. They cleaned her up and they got her the medical attention that she needed. They raised that child like she was their own. She’s married today and she’s a follower of Jesus Christ…
THAT – little scrawny 9 year old girl
• with lice, boils and worms
• weighing less than 30 pounds…
• who pulled her hand away
• who spit at them
• and ran away
MATTERED – to that American couple, was VALUABLE to that couple… AND – the desired to take her HOME…
OKAY – what does God want you to do with this message….
STOP HIDING….
BECAUSE – you matter to God… you are valuable to God… And God would like nothing better then to clean you up… give you all the attention you need and take you home.
START BEING… Christ to the people of this world!
YOU SEE – in many ways our world is just one huge orphanage. Full of people, I MEAN – you work with them, live with them, go to school with them) Who need to know that it is safe for them to come out of hiding to…
