Luke 15:1-2 ¹  Now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear him. ²  And the Pharisees and the scribes grumbled, saying, “This man receives sinners and eats with them.”

MOTIVATE

• Have you ever lost something?
  I have lost: book, money, passport, car keys, daughter!
• When you lose something you feel confused, panic angry, and heartbroken.
• Today I want to share with you God’s heart for things that are lost.

EXAMINE

Jesus attracts crowds of people.

• Jesus spent time with religious people and irreligious.
• Jesus spent time with high class and outcaste.
• Jesus’ time with sinners made some annoyed and angry.

Luke 15:3-7 ³  So he told them this parable: ⁴  “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? ⁵  And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. ⁶  And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.’ ⁷  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.

Jesus tells a story about a lost sheep.

• Sheep represented livelihood – food, clothing, money.
• A lost sheep means it will have grown weak from wandering away from food.
• A lost sheep means it needs special attention, so the shepherd places it on his shoulders; might even break legs to teach it not to run away.
• The shepherd in this story is active and not passive in pursuing the one lost sheep.
• Jesus says, “There is more joy in heaven over 1 sinner who repents over 99 righteous persons w/o repentance.” (15:7)

Luke 15:8-10 ⁸ “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? ⁹ And when she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I had lost.’ ¹⁰  Just so, I tell you, there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”

Jesus tells a story about lost silver.

• Silver represented daily income and long-term savings.
• A woman’s search is different than a man mild or child’s incomplete search.
  • A woman (mom) would sweep every room, search every corner, explore every pile. She has great determination to discover the hidden coin, and will not stop until she does.   
• When she finds it, she tells everyone – including the men who failed!
• Jesus repeats, “I tell you, there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents.” (15:11)

Luke 15:11-24 Jesus tells a story about a lost son.

• Many calls this Parable of a Prodigal. A prodigal is a person who is wasteful in spending and reckless in living. Their lifestyle is greedy, selfish, and foolish.
• Yet, this story is not just about a prodigal son but a compassionate father with two sons.
  • V.11-12 ¹¹  And he said, “There was a man who had two sons.
    ¹²  And the younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of property that is coming to me.’ And he divided his property between them.
  • Younger son asks for inheritance early. Essentially, wishes father dead and wants to leave family.
    • Early inheritance is short-sighted bc it neglects future wealth and generational management of resources.
    • This son wanted his father’s hand not his heart.
  • V.12 The father could have rebuked son and shamed him publicly, expelling him from family. Instead, the father was patient and permitted the son with freedom of choice, even though it was a wrong choice.
  • V.13 Not many days later, the younger son gathered all he had and took a journey into a far country, and there he squandered his property in reckless living.
  • The son journeyed far away and spent all his money in foolish ways and immoral behaviors.
  • V.14 And when he had spent everything, a severe famine arose in that country, and he began to be in need.
  • Life circumstances stacked against this son bc a famine entered the land, leaving the son in a more hopeless situation.
    • “When it rains, it pours.”
    • “Unaddressed problems multiply not minimize”
  • V.15 So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him into his fields to feed pigs.
  • The son realizes his only job is with unfriendly & inappropriate people. They make him work with pigs – an insult to anyone, but especially in Jewish setting.
  • V.16 And he was longing to be fed with the pods that the pigs ate, and no one gave him anything.
  • The son had spiraled so low that he longed to be fed with the pigs. He was at the bottom of life.
    • “Sin will take you father than you want to go, keep you longer than you want to stay, and cost you more than you’re willing to pay.”
    • Bible warns us that unrepentance leads to a stubborn and hard heart, which stores up God’s wrath and judgment (Romans 2:3-5).

• V.17-19¹⁷  “But when he came to himself, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have more than enough bread, but I perish here with hunger! ¹⁸  I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you.
  ¹⁹  I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Treat me as one of your hired servants.”’
  • Finally the son realizes he’s at the bottom and empty of hope (“came to his senses”) and decides to return (repent) with his father.
    • If you’re a prodigal wandering away from father and family, and growing distant from God, then this is a reminder for you to wake up! Wake up! Look up! Turn around!
    • Ask yourself, “Is my life empty or full apart from God’s love?”
  • V.20 ²⁰ And he arose and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him. ²¹ And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’
  • Upon the son returning to the father, the father has been doing the unthinkable. He was waiting patiently. He was praying. And in the right time, the father pursued the son and ran after him. The father forgave the son of all his hateful words and wrongful choices.
  • V.22-24 If forgiveness was not enough, the father celebrates his son’s homecoming by placing a royal robe around the son, showering gifts of jewelry and clothing, and preparing a huge feast with food, music, and dancing. My son was lost but now he’s found!
  • V.25-30 The older son enters the story. The older son was not unfaithful but devoted. He viewed the younger brother as undeserving of forgiveness or reconciliation. BUT, the father helps the son understand important 4 final life lessons…

• The lost belong to someone. Whether it was a sheep, silver, or a son, the lost mattered to those they belonged. Today, as Christians, we need to be reminded the lost world belongs to God. The lost live in our homes, our neighborhoods, our schools… the lost are waiting for you to find them.
  • John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his one and only son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life.”Mark 2:17 “Jesus said, ‘Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I came not to call the righteous but sinners.”
  • Luke 19:10 “Jesus came to seek and to save the lost.”

• Joy is found in the mission of recovery. We notice each rescue story Jesus tells concludes with celebration. Jesus is reminding us the feeling of losing something is a deep burden but that weight is lifted when its found. There is nothing in this world that will bring you, and all heaven, greater satisfaction, sense of purpose, and inward joy than being part of God’s recovery mission for souls.
  • Psalm 126:5 “Those who sow in tears shall reap with shouts of joy”
  • Romans 10:15 “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach good news of Jesus Christ”

• Repentance is possible. In the parable of the prodigal son, he wandered to a distant land for a long duration of time. To the family at home, it seemed like the son was dead. To the prodigal, it seemed like his family was forgotten. But all it took was the remembrance of hope.
  • Hope is in heaven. Look up and talk to God.No one is too far from God.God’s ear is not too dull to hear; God’s arm is not too short to reach and save.The door is open for anyone to return home.
  • If not yourself, then don’t abandon hope for others. Pray for them and pursue them. 

• Sin is not just bad actions but bad attitudes. The younger brother had bad actions with foolish choices. But the older brother had a bad attitude. He was bitter and unforgiving. He overestimated the faults of others and underestimated his own shortcomings. His view of sin was shallow. But the father extended grace to the older brother too by inviting him to celebrate fresh starts and new beginnings.
  • Until we see that it was not just other people’s sin that caused Jesus to die on the cross, but our sin too, then we will never see Jesus accurately.