November 13, 2005

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I Once Was Lost

Luke 15:1-32

            ABC’s Emmy Award-winning show Lost is now in its second season.  It’s website sums up the show this way: “After Oceanic Air flight 815 tore apart in mid-air and crashed on a Pacific island, its survivors were forced to find inner strength they never knew they had in order to survive.  But they discovered that the island holds many secrets, including the intense howls of a mysterious creature stalking the jungle, as well as a polar bear, a marooned and possibly crazy French woman, a mystical boar, a mysterious group known only as ‘The Others,’ a ship called The Black Rock and... a hatch.”

            All of these people are lost after a plane crash.  It is not through any fault of their own, they are just lost, and they want to be found.  They do not like being lost, but they don’t know how to get home.  They are trapped.  Week after week the program shows what it is like to be lost with little hope of ever getting home.  There are real and imagined dangers as they fight to stay alive, and also fight to keep their hope of being rescued intact. 

            At one time the word LOST could be written over all our lives.  Some of us were like the lost sheep: We just wandered away.  We didn’t really intend on leaving the fold, we just weren’t careful about staying near the Shepherd, and before we knew it we were lost. 

            Some of us were like the lost coin: We didn’t even know we were lost.  As distressing as it was to be under a pile of dirt, we thought this was how it was supposed to be.  We didn’t realize we had a spiritual home. 

            Others of us were like the lost son: We were lost because we made deliberate choices that led us away from the Father.  The good thing is that we not only knew we were lost, we also knew the way back home.  The saving factor was that we knew our Father would be watching and waiting for us to return. 

            What is the big idea behind each of these stories?  From beginning to end in the Bible we see people running from God, and God in relentless pursuit of his rebellious creation.  The overarching theme is the persistent lostness of people (by whatever means: wandering away, falling away or deliberate rebellion), and a God who will do anything to find his lost creation.  The story of the Bible is not how mankind is seeking God, far from it, mankind is doing everything it can to avoid God and get away from him.  Mankind is living in total rebellion against their Creator.  No, the story of the Bible is the story of how God is seeking mankind.  Mankind is on the run and God is in search of them.  In the beginning God and man were living together in harmony.  But it is not long until we see the first people hiding from God.  The Bible tells the story this way: “Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden.  But the Lord God called to the man, ‘Where are you?’” (Genesis 3:8-9).  That is the history of humanity and their Creator in just a few words.  God continues to call us and seek us, and we continue to flee.  He called to us through the prophets.  God came with great acts of deliverance and amazing signs and miracles, but even though the miracles of deliverance bring God’s wandering people home, it is only for a short time.  God came seeking us in the person of Jesus Christ.  He continues to seek us today in the person of the Holy Spirit.  In a sense the three parables are one, and tell us about God’s love for his erring and lost creation.  They each tell it in a different way, but the message is the same: If you are lost, God loves you and misses you.  He is searching for you and wants you to come home. 

            Consider first Jesus’ parable of the lost sheep.  In this story Jesus tells about a sheep that wandered away.  It was only one of 100 sheep, but it was still very important to the shepherd.  The surprising element of the story is that the shepherd leaves the other sheep in order to seek the one which is lost.  The lost sheep is the one who gets the attention of the shepherd.  Far from God not caring about us when we sin and wander away from him, he is intensely concerned about us and our well being.  He does not throw us away because of our sin, he seeks us through our sin.  God never gives up on us in disgust.  And here we come across an important truth of Scripture: There is nothing you could ever do that could cause God to stop loving you and caring about you. 

            You might think the shepherd would say, “I’m sick of that sheep always wandering away.  I’m just going to let it go.  Whatever happens to the sheep is good enough for it.”  But that is not what the shepherd does.  You might expect the shepherd to be angry when he finally finds the sheep, but that is not what happens.  Instead, he takes the wandering sheep, and as Jesus said, “He joyfully puts it on his shoulders and goes home.”  He could have beaten the sheep and made it walk all the way home, but he did not — he carried it after tenderly placing it on his shoulders.  He is so happy about finding the sheep that as Jesus said, “He calls his friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.’”  He throws a party and the lost sheep is the guest of honor.  Jesus concludes the parable with these amazing words: “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.” 

            Why all the joy over one wandering sheep?  Why not concentrate on the fact that there are 99 who haven’t wandered and forget about the one who has gone astray?  Remember that the shepherd is a picture of God and what he is like.  God is not just interested in “good” people, he is in constant pursuit of people who are lost.  If you feel lost today there is hope for you.  God has not given up on you.  He has not stopped loving you.  He is trying to find you so that he can bring you home.  When he finds you, there will not be anger and punishment, but extreme joy and a great party. 

            This is a story for all of us, for the Bible says, “There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:22-23).  The good news is that Jesus is the friend of sinners (Matthew 11:19).  The apostle Paul realized this when he said, “Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners — of whom I am the worst” (1 Timothy 1:15).  Why is there more rejoicing over one repentant sinner than over many righteous people who do not need to repent?  Because there are no righteous people who do not need to repent, only self-righteous people who don’t think they need to repent.  The thing about a repentant sinner that brings joy to the heart of God is that they understand that they have sinned; they are honest and acknowledge it, confess it, ask God to forgive them and turn from their sin and turn to God.  Self-righteous people never get to that place.  They are smug and self-satisfied and do not understand their need of God and his forgiving grace. 

            The parable of the lost coin is about a coin which a woman lost.  She had ten coins, but she lost one.  She doesn’t know where it went, so she begins by lighting a lamp so she can see, and begins to sweep her floor.  You have to understand that the houses in Jesus’ day were small with dirt floors.  If there were any windows they were small, and the doorway was low.  The inside of the house was dark even in the daytime.  It would be easy to lose a coin on a dirt floor, since dirt and debris, which were a part of the floor, could easily cover the coin .  But this was probably not just any coin.  Women wore headdresses with a chain of coins around them.  The coins were a part of her dowry.  Sometimes the chain broke or a coin came loose.  To lose part of her dowry was to lose something extremely important that surpassed the worth of the coin itself.  The Holman Bible Dictionary explains that a dowry was: “A marriage present that ensured the new wife’s financial security against the possibility her husband might forsake her or might die.   The husband-to-be or his father paid the dowry or bride price to the bride’s father to be kept for the bride.”  To lose this was to lose your security for the future. 

            The coin could not know it was lost.  It was insensible, but the woman knew it was lost, and that was all that mattered.  Like the woman, God knows we are lost even when we don’t.  Even when we are without sense enough to know we are lost, God cares that we are lost and searches for us.  Even though we may be under a pile of dirt, he sweeps his house until he finds us.  We are more important to him than a woman’s dowry is to her.  He is looking out for our future security.  And the result of finding us again brings joy to the Father.  Jesus said, “In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”  In other words, every time someone who was lost is found, there is a party in heaven.  All heaven explodes with the joy and excitement of someone who has been found. 

            In these parables neither the sheep nor the coin could find their way back.  It was impossible.  There was no way the sheep could find its way back to the fold.  Neither could the coin place itself back on the headdress of the woman.  Both had to be found and brought back by another.  Again, the story of the Bible is not about us waking up, realizing our need of God and coming home to him.  The story of the Bible is about God’s grace and goodness in searching for us until he finds us.  We were helpless to find our way home, but God relentlessly pursued us until he found us. 

            The story of the lost son is different, yet the same.  It is different in that the son knew that he was lost and knew his way home.  The son wanted to be lost.  He chose to be lost.  He wanted to experience what life was like outside the father’s house.  He indulged in every pleasure he could imagine.  He was lost, but he didn’t care.  He only cared about what made him happy.  He only cared about his freedom to do the things he wanted to do. 

            I recently read about Woody Allen who was interviewed for Vanity Fair magazine.  In the article it said, “Allen, who will be 70 on December 1, says age hasn’t brought wisdom.  ‘I’ve gained no wisdom, no insight, no mellowing.  I would make all the same mistakes again, today.’”  He was talking about “mistakes” like marrying his step-daughter.  In watching his films and his life, I would agree with him: age has not seemed to bring him wisdom.  He has a lot of questions but doesn’t seem to have any answers.  He accurately describes the human predicament, but never seems to understand that there is a way out of it.  It is one thing not to know, or understand, that you are lost, but it is another thing altogether when you don’t care that you are lost. 

            You can force a lamb to come home, you can pick up a coin and put it in your pocket, but you cannot force an errant child to come home.  The shepherd goes in pursuit of the lamb and scoops him up and brings him home.  The woman takes the initiative to sweep the floor of her house until she finds the coin and picks it up making it her own again.  But the surprising thing about the parable of the lost son is that the father does not go after the son, he waits for him.  He is always there, but he does not go out and coerce him to come home.  He searches for the son in another way.  Every day he searches the horizon to see if the son is coming home, but he does not go after him and pressure him into coming back.  He knows that would not work and that the son would not be home by his own choice, and may even have resented being home.  The father waited until his son “came to his senses.”  The sheep knew it was lost, but did not know how to get home.  The coin neither knew it was lost, nor how to get home.  But the son knew that he was lost and how to get home.  He had to be sick of his sin.  He had to experience what life was like apart from the father.  He had to know what it was like to be in need.  He had to wallow with the pigs.  He had to miss home and the love of his father.  He had to realize, perhaps for the first time, how good his father really was.  He had to start back home of his own free will.  Someone has said, “Sin will take you farther than you intended to go; it will keep you longer than you expected to stay, and it will cost you more than you wanted to pay.” 

            We are shocked that the father did not try to prevent his son from going, neither does he go after him when he is in the far country.  But when the father saw him, while he was still a long way off, he ran to embrace him, kiss him and welcome him home.  I love it when the Bible says, “So he got up and went to his father.  But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.”  Then, like the shepherd who found his sheep and the woman who found her coin, the father threw a great party.  Luke says, “But the father said to his servants, ‘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.”  The father explains that he had to celebrate, because his son “was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.”

            Again, we see the repeated theme of rejoicing in heaven over those who were lost but are now found.  I love the verse in Zephaniah which says, “Don’t be afraid!  For the LORD your God has arrived to live among you.  He is a mighty savior.  He will rejoice over you with great gladness.  With his love, he will calm all your fears.  He will exult over you by singing a happy song” (Zephaniah 3:16-17 NLT).  This is the kind of God we have.  Our God will stop at nothing to find us, and when he does, he will sing his song over us.  He will calm our fears about his wrath.  He will save us and live with us.  He is a glorious God. 

            In Surprised by Children, Harold Myra tells a story from his childhood: “One afternoon my older brother Johnny and I were walking home from school when we suddenly found ourselves surrounded by four older boys we didn’t know.  Johnny was a good fighter, but they pushed us into a field, threw ropes around us, and shoved us down on the ground.  ‘What did we do?’  we demanded.  ‘We didn’t do anything to you.’  They laughed, tying us up, tangling us together, cinching the knots tight.  They thoroughly enjoyed themselves, taunting us and pulling on the ropes.  Then the bullies left us in the secluded field — just left us trussed up.  We yelled at them to free us, but they were soon gone.  At first a wave of relief rolled over me.  They’re gone! Now we can squirm free.  We yanked at the ropes, thinking we could surely get loose somehow.  But we couldn’t.  We strained and strained, feeling panic building as it started to get dark.  We lay there as the light slowly vanished.  The moon and stars appeared.  We wondered how anyone could find us in the dark and how long this could go on.  At long, long last, under the evening sky, we heard our father’s voice.  He had searched all along the way to school and found us in the field.”  That’s what our heavenly Father does for us.  He searches for us.  He finds us in our helpless state.  He frees us from our bondage and takes us home.

Amazing grace! How sweet the sound
That saved a wretch like me!
I once was lost, but now am found;
Was blind, but now I see.

‘Twas grace that taught my heart to fear,
And grace my fears relieved;
How precious did that grace appear
The hour I first believed.

Through many dangers, toils and snares,
I have already come;
‘Tis grace hath brought me safe thus far,
And grace will lead me home.

The Lord has promised good to me,
His Word my hope secures;
He will my Shield and Portion be,
As long as life endures.

Yea, when this flesh and heart shall fail,
And mortal life shall cease,
I shall possess, within the veil,
A life of joy and peace.  

Rodney J. Buchanan

November 13, 2005