In the two parables we read from the Gospel of Luke today…something was lost. The main character in the parables searched until they found what they were looking for…to the point of leaving what they had to find their lost object. When they found it…they went to their neighbors and rejoiced with them…what was lost was now found. These lost articles are a lot like we are when we are not in a right relationship with God…when we haven’t accepted His invitation of salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. We even say to ourselves that we are not worth it…we are not worthy of Redemption. We even think we have sinned too much to be forgiven.
But…the Good News of the Gospel is that each of us…as a child of God…is “worth it.”Even if we never do anything major in life…like inventing a cure for disease…or bring world peace…WE ARE WORTH T! In this week’s Gospel lesson…Jesus responds to the people who were grumbling because He ate with sinners and tax collectors. He tells the story of a shepherd who has lost one of his sheep and a woman who has lost a coin. They both search until what is lost is found.
It is easy to think of the lost as only those in dire trouble or don’t know the saving Grace of Christ…but…a part within each of us is lost in some way or another. God seeks the smallest lost parts within each of us and seeks to return us to wholeness. When one of us…one of God’s creations…is lost…when even the smallest part of ourselves is lost…God drops everything and begins the search. The lost is found; the rejoicing begins; and we witness an opening to God’s love and grace.
In verses 7 and 10 of Luke’s Gospel…it tells us what happens n heaven when one of the “lost” is found. There is joy when just one person…just one lost soul…is found. I can just hear the Alleluia chorus now… (Sing it).
This reminds me of our daughter…Shanequa…she has a pink blanket she has had since she was born. She sleeps with it every night. There have been times when she has “misplaced” her cherished treasure and does she ever react to that. There are tears and crying…she exclaims she has looked everywhere and cannot find it anywhere. She is distraught…there is no consoling her. Well…now mom and dad join in the search…if we don’t there will be no sleeping in the house that night…when her blanket is found she is over joyed…she goes around hugging her blanket telling it that it has been found…how much she missed it…and…if it is Ray or myself has found it…the parent becomes the “Super hero” of the moment. Her precious love…her blanket…has been found.
THERE IS REJOICING IN HEAVEN!!!
God seeks out the lost to return them back to the fold. God created us to be in fellowship with him. But…because of sin…because of the “fall” from grace…the world has gone astray. It is no longer like it was in the Garden of Eden when the Creator “walked in the cool of the evening” with His creation. But God still wants a relationship with us.
I have been teaching the Purpose Driven Life bible study by Rick Warren at the Goffstown Correctional Facility in Goffstown, NH. It states that one of our purposes in life…purpose #2…is that we were formed for God’s family. Just think about that for a moment…you and I were formed for God’s family. God wants a family…not that he really needs it, He is God after all…and He created you and I to be part of it. Ephesians 1:5 tells us that “His unchanging plan has always been to adopt us into His own family by bringing us to Himself through Jesus Christ. And this gave Him great…pleasure.” Let me repeat that…this gave Him great…pleasure. Every human being was created by God but…not every human being is a “Child of God.” The only way to get into God’s family is by being born again.
This reminds me of a picture I saw this week. It was in my Church History class and it was a picture of a Baptismal Font. It had a picture of Adam and Eve on one end and a picture of Jesus with a lamb on His shoulders at the other. It reminded me that because of Adam and Eve’s sin of disobedience…we are all lost sheep looking for our shepherd to lead us back to the meadow and that it is only through the blood of Jesus that we can return to the sheep fold…to that meadow…that pasture of forgiveness…of redemption and peace.
God is reaching out to His creation…wanting to bring them back to the flock…looking to find that valuable treasure that was lost…yes, we are that valuable treasure to God…we are precious in His sight. The Bible is full of evidence of this truth. Jesus wasn’t sent to earth to be with the righteous…Jesus came to be with the least…the lost…the forgotten…the sinner…to bring them home…back into a right relationship with God. The Pharisee’s and the Sadducees just didn’t get it. They didn’t understand that we are all worthy of grace…not just the so called “righteous”. Through the blood of Jesus…we can all stand righteous before God…if we would only accept His invitation to a new life only found through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Now…you might be asking yourself…what can I do to help in the search? Are we even called to help at all? (I’m glad you asked that question)Well…Matthew 28:19-20 gives us the answer to those questions…it is the Great Commission to Jesus’ disciples…and we…as Children of God…redeemed and forgiven by the Blood of the Lamb…are disciples of Christ. It reads...”Go therefore and make disciples of all nations (let me read that again) make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you, and lo, I am with you always, to the close of age.” We are to be out there…in search of the lost sheep…that lost soul. This is our Commission from Jesus…IT S NOT AN OPTION! We are commissioned…each of us…to be part of God’s grand design of bringing His children…His Creation…back home. We are to be a light…a beacon…a road map…to the world we live in showing the way home.
Another one of our purposes…according to the Purpose Driven Life…is that we were made for a Mission (which the study tells us it is our 5th purpose). It states that “God is at work in the world, and He wants you to join Him. This assignment is called your mission. God wants you to have both a Ministry, in the Body of Christ, and a Mission in the world…Your ministry is your service to believers and your mission is your service to non-believers.” We are to be in the world not of the world. We are to search out the lost and bring them into the fold…into the love and protection of the “Good Shepherd.”
We have choices to make in the world…in our lives. We can either choose to sit back and be joyous in our own salvation…content with the fact that we are saved and that’s all that matters or…we can be out in the world looking for our lost brothers and sisters and showing them the way home…Being able to celebrate with the heavenly host in that Alleluia Chorus because one that was lost is now found. Think about it for a moment…really think about it…if someone hadn’t taken the time to talk to you about our Risen Lord Jesus Christ…where would you be now?
I would like to end my sermon with a poem by one of my favorite Poets of our times…OK so I am a little bias…it is a poem by my husband Ray. It is called “One Lost Sheep” and it embodies the preciousness of each lost soul. It reads:
We are each a precious member
The flock of the shepherd,
One who knows the Master’s voice
Who comes when called
When we are lost, the Shepherd
Seeks us out, finds us, as we are
Carries us, lovingly, back into the fold
Back to the flock, to the safety
The nurturing, the growing
Within the community
Fellow members, fellow followers
At great cost, the shepherd
Leaves the flock
To save one lost sheep
May we ever be in search of that lost sheep waiting to be found.
AMEN
by
Pastor Ruth Foss
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Suncook United Methodist ChurchSuncook, NH
All of my poems are copyrighted by Raymond A. Foss, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012. All rights reserved. Contact me at Ray Foss for usage. See all 21,400+ of my poems at http://www.raymondafoss.blogspot.com Poetry Where You Live.
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