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"There Will Be Joy in Heaven When the Lost is Found!"
There is no feeling quite like it. We all know it well. Think
about the last time that you made a frantic search for something
that you lost. Maybe it was your car keys or your wallet. Maybe
it was some elusive file that you are certain was on your computer
just yesterday. Or perhaps it was something far more important
than that. Maybe it was a frantic search for a loved one in a
crowded place, maybe a search for one of your children in a
bustling department or grocery store. They were there right
beside you just a moment ago. Perhaps it was the search for
a teenager who was out after curfew on a stormy night. We all
know this feeling. Everything stops, your senses race and the
search continues until you find the thing that was lost.
That is how is for our God when it comes to the people that He
loves. The passage from Luke 15 tells us this morning about
this love of God, and his frantic search for those that are
lost. “Suppose one of you has 100 sheep and loses one” Jesus
says. “Suppose a woman has ten silver coins and loses just
one.” Jesus’ message is simple and profound, every one, every
single person on this earth is important to him. He desires
that not one be lost.
We know that God searches for the lost and celebrates when
they are found. But have you ever stopped to imagine that
it might just be you for whom he is searching? It hardly
makes sense does it? After all pastor, I am sitting here
in the pew this morning, how can I be lost? But the truth
is that we all spend a good majority of our time losing our
way, getting away from the shepherd. What is it that leads
you astray? Is it something in your life that seems to have
your whole focus at the moment, something that is slowly but
surely leading you away from your God? Is it the demands of
your job and your overfull Palm Pilot, concerns about your
health, the demands of your family, some of your worries,
some of the goals that you have set for yourself? Maybe it
is some problem that just won’t seem to go away. There are
so many things that can lead us away from the shepherd.
But this morning Jesus is even more specific. As he speaks
to his audience, the ones he is speaking to most of all are
the ones who think they are doing all right. The Pharisees
and scribes have come to grumble that Jesus is spending time
eating with sinners when perhaps he should be paying more
attention to them. After all, aren’t they the ones who have
been doing it right? Aren’t they the ones who are keeping the
law, aren’t they the ones who are doing all the right deeds
in front of the right people, aren’t they the ones who are
righteous?
Like it or not, our thoughts are often not very different
from these. After all, aren’t we here in church? Aren’t
we the one who are doing the work around here, aren’t we
the ones who know how things should all be done? Like it
or not, it is possible that the biggest hurdle in our lives,
the thing that can lead us away from the shepherd time and
time again are the very things that we think we are doing
right. For the more we imagine that are doing things right,
the more we imagine that we don’t really need God, or at
the very least, we need him to wait, unnoticed, unheeded
until we have some problem to bring before him again.
The truth is that no matter how many things we imagine we
are doing right, it is never enough. No matter what you
have been through, no matter how long you have been in
the faith, no matter how much you know or do, it is never
enough to fulfill God’s perfect standard. And if we don’t
fulfill that standard, then we are lost, it is as simple
as that.
But there is good news this morning. Jesus tells us so. He
tells us that the he has come to seek and to save that which
is lost. Jesus has come to find you and me this morning,
to place us on his shoulders and to carry us safely home.
Of course it was not an easy search. To find you and me,
Jesus had to leave the comfort and glory of heaven and come
here to earth, he had to come to find those who don’t even
know that they are lost.
To find you and me, he indeed had to bear a burden on
his shoulders, he had to bear the burden of your and
mine as his shoulders were stretched to the breaking
point and his arms stretched and pierced with nails
on a cross. To search for you and me, Jesus had to
have the viewpoint that the cross alone could give,
a cross that would finally, agonizing, claim his life.
At the time of his death, his lifeless body was taken
down and placed in a tomb, and in truth it looked for
a time as if all had been lost. But then came the biggest
celebration that heaven has ever known. It came early
one morning when a small group of women made a journey
out to a tomb. They went expecting to find only death
a loss, but what they found instead was life and victory.
For God the Father raised Jesus Christ from the dead.
In this resurrection, Jesus has won the victory over death
and he has won the victory of everything in our lives that
would ever separate us from our shepherd. In Jesus’ victory
over death he gives us life in the forgiveness of our sins,
which are washed away today. In this victory he has come
and found what was lost. In this victory he will come one
day and carry us home on his shoulders.
That is the reason that we are here in church this morning, we
are here to hear again of what Jesus has done for us and join
the celebration that is even now going on in heaven. Yet even
as this celebration goes on, we know that Jesus’ search frantic
search for the lost continues. Not everyone in our world knows
of Jesus Christ and his salvation. I didn’t have to tell you
that. We have to church this morning also to be reminded that
we are part of that search for the lost.
Many of you know that I had the opportunity to student teach
at the American School in Hong Kong in the early 1990’s. It
was a wonderful experience. When my time of student teaching
was complete, I flew home by way of Tokyo, Japan and I decided
to spend a few days seeing the sights of that city while I was
there. As it turned out, I hadn’t done a great job with my
travel arrangements. What I mean is this. I traveled from
the Tokyo-Narita airport into the city by train, a train that
got me into the central Tokyo train station at exactly 5:00pm.
I have never seen such a crowd in my life. There were literally
hundreds of people in the station. They were all wearing suits,
they were all carrying briefcases, and they were all going to
catch the next train.
To say that I was overwhelmed would be to understate the case.
I literally stood back against the wall of the station watching
this ocean of humanity pour by and wondered how I was ever going
to find the train platform I was looking for. At that moment
someone came to my rescue. It was a well-dressed Japanese woman
who was obviously in a hurry but she stopped anyway. It the
midst of her busy rush she had managed to notice the lost,
glaze-eyed American standing against the wall and she stopped
and asked me in English if she could help me.
This in itself was remarkable. But it is what she did next
that has left its indelible impression on my life. She, who
was obviously in a hurry, actually went out of her way and
walked me to the train platform that I was seeking. It was a
moment I will never forget. And maybe it is just a little
instructive to you and me. Perhaps in the busy rush of our
lives, we need to take a moment to notice those around us
who are lost, not just to notice, but to show them the way.
I tell you, there will joy in heaven when one who is lost is found.
In Jesus' Name! Amen.
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