Lost And Found // 2022 REACH Women Conference

I’m going to do the Bible reading for us this morning. It will come up on the screen so if you could please turn with me to Luke 15:1-10, Luke 15:1-10. I will start reading.

“Now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear him. And the Pharisees and the scribes grumbled, saying, “This man receives sinners and eats with them.” So he told them a parable: “What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open country, and go after the one that is lost, until he finds it? And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbours, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.’ Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance. Or what woman, having ten silver coins, if she loses one coin, does not light a lamp and sweep the house and seek diligently until she finds it? And when she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbours, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I had lost.’ Just so, I tell you, there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”

Here ends the reading of God’s Word.

Well, good morning again, ladies. (This is on? Okay cool) yeah, it’s really lovely to be here with you all, and yeah, I look forward to just getting to meet some of you afterwards, so please do keep your Bibles open in Luke 15. Keep me accountable!

So, this morning we will be looking at a very well-known passage. I think many of us here will have heard many sermons on Luke 15 and so I’m aware that many of us might come with an attitude of over-familiarity to the passage and that might rob us actually from hearing God speak to us again, so won’t you to pray with me again, as we ask God to help our hearts.

Heavenly Father, thank you for your Word. Thank you that your Word is always relevant. Thank you that your Word meets us where we are. Father, as we come to your Word this morning, I just pray, Lord that you would still our hearts, quiet in our minds, and help us, Lord, to hear what you have to say and to believe what you have to say to us. So, we just pray all this in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Responses To Inappropriate Behaviour

So, I wonder, ladies, have you ever found or caught someone red handed, doing something that they were not supposed to be doing? Their response to being found out is usually quite typical, hey? So, I have a friend (won’t say her name) but she has this really harmful habit of ingesting something that’s meant for external use only. And I have caught her in the act a couple of times, and I would be like, “Did you just eat that?” And one of two things would happen: either flatout denial, “No that’s not what I was doing. That’s not what you saw.” Or immediately throwing it out as if to say, “Okay, okay, I’ve thrown it out. Don’t scold me. Let’s pretend it never happened.” And those of you with kids in the room might think of how this usually happens with your kids. But whether kid or an adult, when someone is caught doing something that is regarded as generally inappropriate, the response will either be to flatout deny or to stop doing it immediately.

Jesus With Inappropriate People

In our passage this morning, Scripture records for us a time when Jesus was caught hanging out with tax collectors and sinners. Now some of us here will know that tax collectors were pretty much disliked by everyone in those days. See, not only were they working for the enemy, that is the Roman authorities, but they were also quite dishonest in their trade. And sinners, on the other hand, well, these were the unclean of the day. These were the immoral. These were the ones who were living degrading lives like drunkards or prostitutes. And in that culture, dining with someone or eating with someone meant that you were extending a hand of fellowship to them. And so, to be in fellowship with sinners meant that you would be unclean.

And it was also a shame and honour culture and so to be in fellowship with tax collectors, who were known for their dishonesty, meant that you would be dishonoured, or you would bring dishonour to your family. And so, to be hanging out with both these groups was not only dishonourable, but for a devout, a devout Jew, that meant being exposed to uncleanness and therefore also being made unclean. And there Jesus was, the holy Son of God, hanging out with them.

And who catches him in the act? Well, we’re told that it’s the Pharisees and the scribes. These were the religious leaders who held to the strictest order of purity and the strict adherence to the law, and they immediately called Jesus out. They lay their accusation against him in verse 2, “This man receives sinners and eats with them.” Notice that the charge is not only for dining with sinners and tax collectors and therefore being in fellowship with them, but that he also receives them. He welcomes them. There’s warmth in Jesus’ reception of sinners that the religious leaders find inappropriate.

You see, in his letters, Paul uses that same word of welcoming to call the church to receive people like Phoebe and Epaphroditus, who are Gospel workers that he said are worthy of honour. So, can you see what the Pharisees and the scribes are charging against Jesus? They’re saying, “This man receives sinners with warmth and honour that should be reserved only for the worthy. He receives worthless sinners with warmth that’s fit, that’s fit only for the worthy. How could he? Does he not know what they have done? Does he not know who they are?”

Now I’d like us for a second to imagine being the tax collector or the sinner in that room. Can you imagine what must have gone through their minds as they heard the Pharisees and the scribes laying a charge against Jesus for being around them? I imagine that it must have felt like how an imposter feels when they’ve just been exposed. I imagine that their hearts would have been beating really fast as they prepared to be cast out and thrown out, like something that shouldn’t be ingested. They knew that there was some truth to what the Pharisees and the scribes were saying. They’re just saying it like it is. Who am I to be in the presence of this worthy man, of this honourable man? I know how dishonourable my life has been. I know what I just, what I did just the other day, just yesterday or just even this morning. I know my filth, my shame. I shouldn’t be so close to a person so pure. The Pharisees and the scribes have blown the cover and we’re about to be cast out. Or Jesus is about to withdraw from me like someone who’s been caught doing something wrong. Right?

Jesus’ Response To The Pharisees And Scribes

Well, no. As we heard when Fundi read, Jesus’ response was quite unexpected. You see, this was not the first time Jesus was caught by the Pharisees and scribes dining with tax collectors and sinners. The first time in Luke’s gospel when Jesus was charged for dining with sinners, his response was to tell them about his mission on earth. So, Luke 5:32. He said,

“I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.”

But that seems to have not gotten across to the Pharisees the scribes and so this time round in our passage when accused that he not only dines with sinners but welcomes them, this time Jesus will respond by showing them the heart of God. He responds by revealing to them what makes God’s heart jump for joy. And he responds in such a way that both the religious Pharisee and scribe and the sinner and tax collector can hear what he has to say. You see, both the religious and the sinner must know God’s true heart.

So won’t you look with me at Jesus response in verses 3 to 10. So, the accusation was laid in verse 2 and then verse 3 we are told that Jesus responded to the charge against him by telling a parable. But did you notice how the way Jesus told the parable was not by way of statement, but it was by way of question? He posed his response as questions. He asked, “what man of you,” and then, as if thinking as that maybe the women in the, in the room might not relate, he adds, “Or what woman,” in verse 8 and goes to give a very similar scenario. You see Jesus tells the parable by way of question because he wants each person present there to examine their own hearts. Jesus is going to respond in a way that should hit home. He poses his response in question format so that each person is first confronted by their own heart, before being confronted by the heart of God, almost as if to say, “I want you to understand something of your heart so that you can understand something of God’s heart.” Jesus will respond to the charge against him by revealing God’s true heart to his audience, but he will do so by way of first exposing their own hearts to themselves.

Jesus’ Parable Of Finding What We Value

So, Jesus used everyday scenarios that every person in that room or in that gathering would have been able to relate to. The men owned sheep, so they could imagine losing one. In fact, it probably was something that had happened to some of them. The question in verse 4 is “Which of you, if you had a hundred sheep and lost one, would not leave the 99 and go after the lost one?” Now that seems like a reckless situation, a reckless scenario to us, right? Like, why leave the 99 to go after the one? But Jesus knew that if his listeners examined their hearts, they would actually find themselves to be just that reckless.

So, my father owned sheep, okay, so I have seen first-hand how a man gets when he has lost his sheep. In our house, the shepherd would be sent back to the fields to go looking for that sheep. My brothers would be called from wherever they were to go join the search and my dad, even with his bad knees, would go out and look for that sheep, no matter what the weather was like outside. And he would call all the men in the village to check if his sheep had not gone with their flock. And we’d be drawn in on this worry as well, because now we’re worried for him. We know that he’ll be like restless up until that sheep is found. You see, my dad valued his sheep, and he would have done all that was possible to find one lost sheep.

You see, Jesus’ question is a question of values. It’s a question of treasures. The parables are meant to expose what’s really dear to the heart of his listeners. They valued their possessions and so, as ridiculous as the scenario seems at first glance, it shows the heart of the man to whom the sheep belongs. He values that sheep in particular and he must find it.

And what of the woman in the coin? Well, the Bible I have (its) footnotes will tell you that that coin was a drachma which was the equivalent of up to a day’s wage, so to lose one was quite significant. It could be, it could mean that her well-being is impacted. So here too, the heart of the woman to whom the coin belongs is revealed.

What Do We Value?

So for us too this morning. It’s important for us to first search our own hearts for a moment. What scenario would Jesus use for us? What’s dear to our own hearts that we would do the seemingly ridiculous and reckless to get? It might not be sheep, but what about our security? Financial security, physical security? Or perhaps our reputation – being held in high esteem by people? To what extents do we go to be liked? What crazy things do we do to get that perfect picture that will get thousands of likes on social media or that perfect reel? To what extents do we go to get that job, that title?

You see, if all of us were to examine our hearts, we would find at least one, at least one thing that we value so much, that we would do the ridiculous to attain it and to keep it.

Jesus’ Heart For Lost Sinners

But let’s not lose sight of why Jesus called for the self-examination. This was his response to the accusation that he was receiving and eating with sinners. You see Jesus, poses this question to his listeners to show them that when he eats with sinners and when he receives them, it shows something of his own heart. Jesus poses the question to show his listeners that he values his lost people. And even when one of them is lost, it’s his heart to do the seemingly foolish to find lost souls (and bring) who belong to him. It is his heart to expose himself to uncleanness and dishonour, so that he might find those who belong to him.

In verse 4, we see the man going to heights, moving towards his beloved sheep until he finds it. In verse 8, the woman lights a lamp. You see, this would have been a small house with very little, if any windows at all, and so she lights this lamp. The floor would have probably been a mud floor and those of us who grew up in rondavels, with cow dung floor and mixed with soil will (and) can picture something of this. So, she sweeps the mud floor, hoping to hear the clink of the coin muddled with the dust of the floor. She searches for her lost coin. There’s intention in her search, there’s diligence in her search. You see, both the woman and the man do what they must to find their valued treasure.

Jesus is painting this picture to show God’s heart. And what does God do? Well, he sends his Son, God in the flesh, to die for sinners. John 3:16,

“For God so loved (God so treasured) the world, that he gave his only Son, so that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life.”

Jesus, who is God, becomes human, becomes born as a baby, takes on the form of a servant. Why? So that he can move towards sinners until he finds them and saves them. Jesus, who is fully God, enters this fallen, broken world and is persecuted, ridiculed, rejected, to the point of being hung on a cross and dying. Why? So sinners like you and I could be reconciled to God.

So, just as we do the seemingly foolish to get the treasures of our hearts, in a similar way God acts in the foolishness or the craziness of the incarnation to come to lost sinners, and in the foolishness of the cross to save lost people, because they are dear to God’s heart. We are dear to God’s heart.

God’s Delight At Repentance

In verses 5 to 6, we see this beautiful picture of a man who has found his dear, lost sheep. He picks it up and he lays it on his shoulders, and he takes it home with him. He doesn’t kick it in frustration over the inconvenience that he has caused him. No, he’s gentle with it and he lays it on his shoulders, and he takes it home rejoicing. I can almost picture him like that, this jump in his step because of the joy in his heart and when he gets home, still beaming with joy, joy that he can’t contain, he calls all his neighbours and he says, “Join in my joy. Rejoice with me. I have found my lost sheep.” And so too with the woman. When she finds her precious coin, this uncontainable joy overwhelms her, and she too calls her friends and neighbours, “Rejoice with me. I have found that coin that I had lost.”

Overwhelming joy. Joy so uncontainable that everyone must share in it. Jesus says in verses 7 and 10 that, that overwhelming joy, that uncontainable joy, is the kind of joy that is in heaven when one sinner repents. When tax collectors and sinners like you and I repent, the heavens burst, burst with joy so uncontainable because God treasures sinners. Jesus says God and his angels burst with joy when a sinner repents.

Now, I won’t assume that everyone here knows what repentance means. So, repentance is that act of turning around, of changing one’s mind, that if you’re going one way and you realize it’s wrong, you turn around and you turn towards the right path. It’s a returning to God and Jesus says the heavens burst with joy each time a sinner returns to God.

All Need And Can Receive Forgiveness In Christ

So again, let’s remind ourselves why Jesus said this. You see, he was accused of dining with sinners and tax collectors and welcoming them, but implicit in that charge against him was the accusation that he must then approve of their sin. If Jesus receives sinners so warmly instead of condemning them, then surely that means that he condones sin. And so, it’s important for us to not lose sight of the emphasis that Jesus puts on repentance in his response. I don’t know if you noticed in verse 1 that we’re told that the sinners and tax collectors were drawing near Jesus to hear him. That’s an important detail that we shouldn’t miss. The purpose of their drawing near to Jesus was to hear him preach. And what was Jesus preaching? Well, he was preaching the good news of God’s kingdom. He was preaching that all who would believe in him would be saved and would enter God’s kingdom, no matter what ethnicity they were, no matter what physical impairment they had, no matter what -even if, even if they were born from a family of dishonour.

If only you would turn away from your sinful ways and put your trust in Jesus, you will be welcomed with joy and great honour in the kingdom of God as a valued treasure that had gone missing but has been found. This is the good news they were drawing near to hear. Jesus came to call sinners to repentance. He did not agree or approve or ignore their sin. He preached the Gospel, and many responded in repentance. And each time even one sinner repented, God’s heart exploded with joy, and it was Jesus’ delight to delight his father.

This is God’s heart. Jesus tells this parable to show God’s heart to his audience and I pray that as we see how Jesus values lost sinners, as we see how he holds sinners dear to his heart, then seeing his heart would move our hearts to repent. Seeing his heart would draw us near to him. Seeing that this is our God, this is our Saviour. He comes down to where we are. He moves towards lost sinners no matter how gross their sin is and he moves toward us, not to not to shame us, but to cleanse us. He moves toward us to cleanse us. We need not fear drawing near to him, thinking that he will be repulsed by our filth, thinking that he would reject or condemn us. No, rather it is in him that we find our cleansing. Jesus came to die for sinners so that all who would believe in him would be forgiven, cleansed, made righteous with a righteousness not of their own, but with the righteousness that comes from the God who treasures sinners.

And may we not make the Pharisaic mistake of thinking that we don’t need repentance, that we’re okay. This message is both for the believer and the unbeliever. Every one of us here, whether Christian or not, needs repentance and forgiveness. It’s not a matter of how long you’ve been walking with the Lord and it’s certainly not a matter that God is only delighted when you first come to faith, and then he’s unmoved by your repentance going forward. Because on the flip side, it’s not like when we come to faith, we never fall into sin ever again, right? So, the Pharisees were so hard in their hearts, that when they came to Jesus, it was not to hear him, but he was to suss him out, to judge him. “What’s he gone say that we can use against him?” They were so blind to their need for repentance. And we’re just like them up until God’s grace reaches us. So, dear sisters, consider this: it’s an amazing grace when our eyes are opened to our sin, and we are moved to cry for forgiveness. It’s a gracious working of the Spirit of God, a reaching out for us, a searching for us, a call to return to God, whether we are new to the faith, or we’ve been Christian for decades.

This morning then, Jesus in these verses has shown to us his heart for sinners. He has shown to us that he is the God who comes down and moves towards sinners to meet them where they are, so that he can draw them to himself and bring them home. He has showed us that he communes with sinners for the purpose of calling them to repentance and that when they repent, God’s heart bursts with overwhelming, uncontainable joy because his beloved treasure is with him, where it belongs.

Our Response To Jesus’ Heart

So how can we respond? Well firstly, once again, Jesus told this parable because the religious of the day were grumbling against him for fellowshipping with sinners. He responded by showing us that sinners are treasured by God and God is delighted when they repent. Now obviously, Jesus is not physically here today, but his heart has not changed, and if we as Christians, if his heart is for the lost and we as Christians are his body, then there’s a call for us here today that, as his body, we should be moving to where his heart would lead us, right? Moving toward the lost to tell them the good news of God’s kingdom so that they may hear, repent, and believe in Jesus, so that the heart of our Lord may delight to have his lost come home.

So, let’s search our hearts this morning. Are we Christians who grumble at the thought of certain people coming to faith? Perhaps people who have hurt us? Or are we Christians who withhold grace from others, the grace that we have freely received. Sisters, if there’s any grumbling or withholding of grace in our hearts, let us bring that before the Lord and repent of it, and let us move toward the lost and tell them of the heart of God. And may we join in the joy of our Lord when sinners repent.

Then finally, all of us, whether we are Christian or not this morning, may we see God’s heart as it is revealed in Scripture, not as it is in our minds or our ideas. And as we see the heart of God, his delight to save, his delight to forgive, let us be quick to repent. It doesn’t matter what you’ve done. It doesn’t matter how long you’ve been living in sin. If you come to Jesus, confessing your sin, and pleading for his forgiveness, his response will not be repulsion or frustration. He will welcome you home with joy. It doesn’t matter how unclean you feel or how unclean you really are: draw near to Jesus and find your cleansing. God’s heart is big enough for you. You are dear to his heart. You are precious in his sight. Don’t delay returning home. Let’s pray.

Heavenly Father, Lord, we bless you for your heart for us. We praise you, God, that you see our sin and you love us anyway. You see our sin and you long for us to return so that we may find our cleansing in you. Father I just pray for each of us here today, I pray, God, that we would see your heart, Lord, and that we would just really come to you, cling to you, knowing that you receive us with joy, not with repulsion. Thank you, God, for Jesus. Thank you that you sent your Son to come and die for us. We pray lord that you would give us faith, that we would not forget who you are and who we are in you. Pray this in Jesus’ name, Amen.