Our Beliefs : Sermons : Sermon Archive - 2004 : September 26, 2004
Look into God's "Lost and Found" Box
Pentecost 17
"Where did I put my keys? I just had them a minute ago, but I can't find them now when I need them!" Those are the words of a very tense person who might be on his way to a meeting, but he suddenly discovers something -- he can't find his keys, so he can't start his car, so he can't make it to the meeting. He then goes digging around in every pocket that he has to see if he can find them. After searching himself and not finding them, he ransacks the house -- looking under the cushions in the couch; pulling out the dresser to see if they fell behind it; looking in every nook and cranny for those keys and oftentimes finding everything but the keys. Have you ever lost something and just couldn't find it when you needed it? Wouldn't it be great if your house had a magical "lost and found" box, so that everything you lose in your house would automatically turn up in that "lost and found" box? Unfortunately, it just doesn't work that way. The way it usually works is that something is put in the "lost and found" box, and no one ever claims it again. So you end up with a lot of things no one wants, like old pairs of glasses that won't do anyone any good except the person who lost them, or one mitten or glove that is useless because it doesn't have a mate. You find a lot of useless and discarded things.
This morning Jesus gives us a lesson about the kind of people you might find in a "lost and found" box -- people that no one could care less about -- except Jesus. As we look into God's Lost and Found Box, we'll find only one kind of people -- the lost. But outside that box we find those who have been found by their Savior.
First, as we look into God's Lost and Found Box, we see those who are lost. They are sinners. Our text tells us that "tax collectors and 'sinners' were all gathering around to hear [Jesus]. But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, 'This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.' " The Pharisees are their typical selves here. They were looking for a way to discredit Jesus here as they were always doing, and they had a good opportunity. As Jesus was teaching the crowds, some of the low-lifes of society came to him to hear him. They are described as "tax collectors and 'sinners.' " We might not like the tax man, but in Jesus' day tax collectors weren't just disliked -- they were despised and even hated because they were gathering taxes for Rome who had conquered the Jews. And even worse, they were known to take much more than they should have to line their own pockets. Tax collectors were swindlers and cheats and traitors. Their companions here and always counted in the same group were the "sinners." Basically those who lived ungodly and sinful lifestyles completely against God's law were called sinners by the rest of society. A good example of a "sinner" would be the woman caught in adultery. She could have been stoned to death for her sin according to Mosaic Law, but Jesus had compassion on her, forgave her sin and told her to leave her life of sin. These sinners were the outcasts of society. But Jesus welcomed them and spoke to them and ate with them. The Pharisees wanted nothing to do with them.
Jesus took the opportunity to teach them by using a parable. He compared these tax collectors and sinners to a lost sheep. The picture is of a shepherd who has 100 sheep and one of them gets lost as they are out in the country. Maybe the one sheep saw a nice-looking clump of grass and started nibbling and then saw another nice-looking clump of grass a little further on and started nibbling on that and eventually he became lost. The rest of the sheep, along with the shepherd, were eventually nowhere in sight. Most people would say, "Forget about the one sheep and keep track of the 99. The one sheep will probably be too much of a bother to find anyway." That makes sense, doesn't it? But we aren't shepherds. The loss of one sheep to us is nothing, but to the shepherd who knows each of those sheep by name, it is a huge loss.
Not too long ago I remember waking up and finding that my daughter Emery wasn't in her bed. Now that didn't frighten me right away -- she often would get into bed with her brother because she was lonely in her own room. So my wife Sara and I just went into Nate's bedroom, but there was no sign of Emery. Then we got a little scared. We raced downstairs and looked on the couches and still didn't find her. We were shouting out her name frantically by this time. Then we went upstairs again and looked in the last possible spot she could be in -- under her bed. And that's where she was, safe and sound, and I think still sleeping, totally oblivious to the heart attacks she had almost given us. Now we only had two children at the time, but even if we had 99 children, we would still react the same way, as would you if your child was missing.
Jesus showed that attitude -- compassion. He is the Good Shepherd. Every single sheep is precious to him. If one of his sheep strays away, the Good Shepherd "leave(s) the ninety-nine in the open country and go(es) after the lost sheep until he finds it. And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, 'Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.' " It is as if there is only that one sheep in the whole world, and the shepherd will not rest until he has found it and rescued it.
This parable gives us great comfort because it shows the great love and compassion that Jesus has for each of us sinners who were lost in our sins. Jesus did not leave us to be lost and useless in some lost and found box like a used hairbrush or cracked pair of glasses or tattered mitten with no mate. We were once in God's lost and found box. We were once lost and condemned creatures, but now we have been found by our Savior. Every soul is precious to Jesus -- he doesn't want a single sinner to die in their sins, but every sinner to come to repentance. When that sinner repents, they will see the compassion Jesus has for them -- so much that he would not only be willing to give up his own life for a wayward sheep and a whole world full of wayward sheep, but so much love and compassion that he did give up his life for you and me and all sinners. Jesus' compassion toward all sinners, including you and me, caused him to die for all of our sins and take the punishment for those sins on himself. That ultimate payment has set us free. It has set the whole world of sinners free. All people are lost -- but when we came to faith, we now realize that we have been found -- by Jesus our Savior.
That means that because Jesus had compassion on us, he took us out of that Lost and Found Box. We find ourselves in Christ, fully forgiven. Do we have the same kind of compassion that Jesus had for those who are lost? Or can we find every excuse in the book for not reaching out to them, not reaching into that Lost and Found Box? What can change that attitude? Jesus can. Jesus said, "I have come to seek and to save that which was lost." We were lost and going down the path that leads to eternal death. But Jesus found us. He took us out of that lost and found box where you only see things that are lost and useless. We are no longer in that box because we have been found. The angels in heaven rejoice every single time a sinner repents of his or her sinfulness and turns to Christ for forgiveness. But we rejoice as well because we know that one day we will join them in heaven because Jesus lived and died for us.
Do you know anyone who is still in that lost and found box? If you don't, maybe you shouldn't just pass by that Box and ignore its contents. Look in and see how many people you either know or can get to know who need Jesus. Maybe it's a Christian who doesn't have time for God anymore, and is slipping away from Jesus. Just like that lost sheep who was nibbling on some green tuft of grass along the way, those Christians might be finding something else in life that seems more important. Maybe it's someone you don't even know yet. Will you get to know them, even if it means taking a lot of your time and your resources? How concerned are you about where they will go for eternity?
There are usually two kinds of people at a traffic accident -- those who are there to help, and those who are there to observe. Police and paramedics are there to help. They are trained to help. They couldn't care less whose fault it was (although the police will eventually issue a ticket if one is warranted). They aren't there to give a lecture on bad driving habits. They bandage wounds, free trapped victims, give words of encouragement. The other folks, the bystanders, are doing just that -- standing by and watching, but not getting involved. Which group are you in?
When it comes to reaching the lost and hurting, we're going to be in one of these two groups. We will be uninvolved and let others do the work, maybe even telling them how foolish they were to get into that situation in the first place. Or we will be concentrating on helping those who are lost and hurting. Jesus gave us the perfect example of reaching out to the lost. And he gave us the reason and message to reach out to them and have them be found -- the all-sufficient sacrifice of Jesus.
Be a friend to a "sinner." Get to know them. Have compassion on them as Jesus did on you. Tell them the message of full and free forgiveness in Christ. Show them that they are lost sinners, but God wants to take them out of the lost and found box and give them eternal life. And don't rest until there are no longer any people in the Lost Box, but they have been found and will live forever in heaven. Amen.
