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Life: God’s Version of ‘Take Your Child to Work’ Day Week 7: Dad’s Happy! (so are we) A sermon on Luke 15:1-10
Life: God’s Version of
‘Take Your Child to Work’ Day
Week 7: Dad’s Happy! (so are we)
Luke 15:1-10
† In Jesus Name †
May the grace and peace of God our Father and the Lord Jesus be yours, and may you rejoice as others who were lost are found!
Intro – The Job is done!
There were days that I went to work with my dad that were more special than others.
We were doing something with cement, building a new stone wall, or patching some foundation, or creating a walkway. As we laid down the last wheelbarrows load of cement, as we were younger we always watched my dad take out a pencil and carve his initials in the last section.
As we got older, my brother and then I would do enough work, and do it well enough, that our initials, STP and DTP would join TEP in some corner of the project.
And then off to Howard Johnson’s for an ice cream shake and a beer.
There was great joy, the job was done. Something was created, something was made right!
Time to celebrate!
That is the same thing that happens in heaven, every time a sinner is found and brought home. And like my dad and brother celebrating, like the shepherd finding the one, and the lady who found the silver coin, there is incredible joy, and a party that goes beyond belief.
And what is really cool – because life is God taking his kids to work, we get to celebrate as well!
And what a celebration it is! Dad is happy, and so we are happy.
Sort of like the shepherd who carries home his sheep…and the woman who found her very valuable coin.
Law – We don’t like those…. People/Sinners
The context of Jesus’ parable cannot be overlooked.
The Pharisees and those that studied the law didn’t get it. Both of these groups focused on living their lives as holy as possible, trying to eliminate any practice or behavior that wasn’t allowed for in scripture. They were devoted to their way of life, and proud of it, because of the effort put into it.
As hard as they practiced their disciplined life-style, they forgot to love their neighbor, to be concerned about them, and they just looked down on them, because they didn’t follow.
When they Jesus spending his time with these lesser beings, they are ticked off—if he’s truly God’s holy chosen messiah, he should be with them, praising them for their diligence and hard work.
Here again how the Bible declares the scene.
2 This made the Pharisees and teachers of religious law complain that he was associating with such sinful people—even eating with them!
Imagine Jesus coming back today, and sitting here in church, and then we invite him to come eat with us, and his response was to leave, and head down to a picnic with…. Hmmm… who you do you think you are holier than? Or maybe those horrible rotten sinners who…
Or maybe, instead of heading to lunch with us, he heads to a jail in Colorado, to spend a couple hours with a 22year old assassin.
Maybe that puts us in the mood of a the pharisees.
“Pastor, you can’t mean that Jesus would rather spend His time with “him” rather than us…
My only reply – is God’s job today to search for the one, or the ninety nine?
Who is the lost coin that needs to be found – us or him?
Yet the interesting thing is, that God would have some of his kids with Him, to make the point of God’s love – to be there, as God does what only God does. As God works on Him seeking to finished the job that began as Jesus died for everyone of his sins.
And those of us who can’t go to jail to visit him, can God at work by praying for him, and for his family, as they realize that only Jesus can deal with the depth of his sin.
For in prayer, asking God to be at work, we confess that we believe God can and desires to save everyone.
And can you imagine the joy that would be in heaven, should this young man be brought home, carried by Jesus? Could God do it? He already has – in David’s case, in Paul’s case, in the case of one of the soldiers at the cross, a man named Longinus, who used his spear to prove Jesus was dead. Each a murderer was changed by the power of God’s love.
I know who the first person who would want to greet him when he gets before God’s throne. I mean after God the Father would welcome him home. Two forgiven sinners, saved by Jesus – what a image!
And I would pray we would all go ballistic with joy!
Gospel – Look at how God searches for us, finds us brings us home and rejoices!
Moving on to how incredible the gospel is–When both the lost sheep and the lost coin are found, the term used gives us a modern word- heurisko – the art and science of finding something, or someone. It combines intuition, deep research, intelligence, basically pursuing the thing with everything one is, and haves.
And Jesus came to find us, with everything He had and is, including His life.
To find all of us.
I saw something in Luke that I’ve never seen before in this parable, but it is there, both in Matthew’s account and the account from Luke we have today…
“Won’t he leave the ninety-nine others in the wilderness”
As I thought through this passage, this one verse captured my heart.
The 99 weren’t even home yet. They were still in need of their Shepherd for they were in the wilderness.
They were on the way, but they weren’t home, yet we still need Him to bring us home.
We still need Jesus, we still need the Spirit’s guidance, we still need the Spirit’s guidance to deal with temptation, to live a life with Him. And because we are really all more like the 1 than the 99, we know the Lord is with us. We and the pharisees aren’t the 99- we are the one, and Jesus is carrying us home. `1
We know that heaven went ballistic with happiness when we God put His mark on us. He was so happy.. another job well done.
And then he invites us to work with Him to share in His happiness, to share in His joy, as others are re-created in the death and resurrection of Jesus.
As He invites to go to work with Him, even as He takes on the toughest of jobs.
Amen!
Go! And Search for Them! A sermon on Matt. 18:10-20
The Good Shepherd, carrying His own.
† In Jesus Name †
May the grace, mercy and love of God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ be with you as you walk through this time of Harvest!
- Context! Context! Context!
I recently began riding a bike again, and I am amazed at how much more you are aware of everything around you than you are in a car. From the potholes to neighborhood dogs to whether you are going uphill or down.
You end up so much more aware of your context!
As we look at scripture, we need to be aware of the context of the passage! Not just who is talking to whom, but what surrounds the passage we are looking at, what bookends the passage.
Today we see these bookends:
10 “Beware that you don’t look down on any of these little ones. For I tell you that in heaven their angels are always in the presence of my heavenly Father.
And
4 In the same way, it is not my heavenly Father’s will that even one of these little ones should perish…
And so there is a lot of focus on those God considers His little ones… and the rest of the passage gives us insight into who they are…
- Take Care of the Little Ones
So who are these little ones? We start to see who they are in what the two comments book end.
12 “If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them wanders away, what will he do? Won’t he leave the ninety-nine others on the hills and go out to search for the one that is lost? 13 And if he finds it, I tell you the truth, he will rejoice over it more than over the ninety-nine that didn’t wander away! 14 In the same way, it is not my heavenly Father’s will that even one of these little ones should perish.
So this isn’t just about those we normally think of as “little ones.” It follows through their lives, and God is the Shepherd who never gives up. So God’s little ones include those of us who have occasionally wandered away, whom He is working to return.
God cares about each of us, as much as every parent cares for their child. It is something that never changes, this care that God has for us. The only difference is God doesn’t worry like a mom whose son just got a new bike. (Even if he is a 58-year-old pastor!)
But God rejoices when we He is able to forgive and restore us. His joy is so enthusiastic that Isaiah says He will dance when we arrive at the point where all of God’s children are home! And that, even now, when someone comes to depend on God and the promises He has made to save them, all heaven rejoices!
Lost
That’s something that to me shows God’ love. It doesn’t stop because we throw a tantrum, or we tell Him off, or we decided we would rather have it our way, and dwell in what we call sin – the destructive behaviors God has warned us about—because those behaviors destroy our relationships, with God, with others and our internal peace.
What is worse is that when we are caught up in such behavior, we are like that lost sheep, we don’t even see the mess and the danger we’ve gotten ourselves into!
Which is why God sends Jesus, and his followers out to find us, and bring us home.
And He does do that—He searches for us, He sends friends and pastors and other believers to find us, He might even drag us to see a friend or family member prayed for, or a child’s back blessed and to see them sing…
All to bring a lost wanderer home to where they can find peace, where they can know they belong, where their souls can find rest and healing.
Because we are God’s children, this is what He wants for us!
- Those Needing Forgiveness
Which brings us to the last section of our gospel reading this morning.
15 “If another believer* sins against you,* go privately and point out the offense. If the other person listens and confesses it, you have won that person back. 16 But if you are unsuccessful, take one or two others with you and go back again, so that everything you say may be confirmed by two or three witnesses. 17 If the person still refuses to listen, take your case to the church. Then if he or she won’t accept the church’s decision, treat that person as a pagan or a corrupt tax collector.
18 “I tell you the truth, whatever you forbid* on earth will be forbidden in heaven, and whatever you permit* on earth will be permitted in heaven.
We have to see that this passage isn’t about just correcting someone who has done us wrong. It’s about bringing that little one, that sheep that is wandering lost, back into the family, to make sure they know they are welcome at home.
Notice it doesn’t put the emphasis and the work on the sinner, but rather on the one who was sinned against, the one still in the family, still part of the church. It is our job to restore people, to take on the sin and work for reconciliation in a process.
Not just one conversation, several, then several involving wise men of the church skilled in reconciliation, then even bringing the entire church into the discussion – that the lost sheep might be restored…
That is the responsibility of forbidding and permitting, what is called the authority of the keys. To use the responsibility God gives us to say sin is forgiven, or not, to rejoice in the announcement of reconciliation—this is even the end of treating someone like a pagan or tax collector – the people that Jesus reached out to, and died to save.
It’s all about bringing the children of God back to Him – no matter how far we have wandered.
SO let’s go bring everyone who is lost and wandering home, even as God has brought us here.
AMEN!
Are We Interested in Whom Jesus Interested In?
Devotional Thought of the Day:
12 “What do you think a man does who has one hundred sheep and one of them gets lost? He will leave the other ninety-nine grazing on the hillside and go and look for the lost sheep. 13 When he finds it, I tell you, he feels far happier over this one sheep than over the ninety-nine that did not get lost. 14 In just the same way your Father in heaven does not want any of these little ones to be lost. Matthew 18:12-14 (TEV)
199 “He hasn’t got the time?—So much the better. Christ is interested precisely in those who do not have the time.” (1)
“Some people want to live with the sound of chapel bells, but I want to run a mission just a yard from the gates of hell!” (2)
The parable of the 100 sheep is one the church needs to hear today.
But we won’t like it, if we hear it, the parable will bother us, it will irritate us at first. I can here people saying, “Why would Jesus leave us behind? Why isn’t he here with us, why does Jesus go after that stubborn lost sinner?”
Of course, we won’t say that aloud. But when we see the church’s primary ministry to its members, that is exactly what we are saying. There is no lost sheep that Jesus would search out, rescue, reveal Himself to, so that he can care for them, heal their souls, and bring them back home. It has been His mission since the Trinity laid down this plan before the foundation of the world.
St Josemaria says it well, Jesus is acutely interested in those who do not believe in Him, in those that think Christianity is a bunch of myths, that it was a religion dreamed up and changed in order to get people to behave properly. He is interested in those broken by sin, by sexual sins, by greed. He is interested in those with broken marriages, broken families, those who grieve. He wants to be with those who have no time for Him, because of all of those things and more.
He will even leave behind the “good people” to search them out!
Well, sort of.
Okay, not really.
You see, it is those of us, nourished by God, who Jesus takes with Him to search out those He is interested in finding. He would through our hands, our voices, our lives, and brings back those who need healing and cleansing and restoration; even as we do, even the healing we are finding in Christ.
For we have been sent by God into the world, even as Jesus was sent into the world. Not to condemn it, but to work in Christ to see it reconciled to the Father. Its what we do – as Christ’s body, as His people.
It’s not that Jesus is less interested in us, it is that He can’t bear to see one of His people, on of the Father’s children, off alone. Off in dangerous places. dangerous to the body and to the soul.
Lord have mercy on the lost ones, and have mercy on us by guiding us to them, that we can remind them of your love. AMEN.
(1) Escriva, Josemaria (2011-01-31). Furrow (Kindle Locations 1039-1040). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.
(2) Rough remembrance of the opening lines of Steve Camp’s song, “Run to the Battle”
