Are You A Bit Catawampus When It Comes To Seeking The Lost?

Good Morning Friends,

Do you know how hard it is to go to through life without holding a grudge of some kind? My guess is, that even for the most kindhearted of us, down deep in the recesses of our souls – maybe even in a subconscious way – there’s a grievance somewhere, a score to settle against somebody, for some reason. For some of us, we milk it for all we’re worth. Revelries in college football is one example. Ohio State vs Michigan for example. But someone always loses. Today’s parable is about lost things but is also true about people who are spiritually lost as well, and it is no game. Here we find that it is best to respond to people who are lost with the same or greater effort that we would exert as if searching for things of value…and discover in the effort that indeed they are of great value. For here we discover we are meant to respond to them in a way that honors Jesus as we seek their best interest. Here we become hopefully become transformed as we share the way God is searching for them through us. In engaging the lost, we can help those who are a bit out of alignment with God.  Are You A Bit Catawampus When It Comes To Seeking The Lost?

Scripture: Now all the tax collectors and sinners were coming near to listen to him. And the Pharisees and the scribes were grumbling and saying, “This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them.” So he told them this parable: “Which one of you, having a hundred sheep and losing one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the one that is lost until he finds it? When he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders and rejoices. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, 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 of them, does not light a lamp, sweep the house, and search carefully until she finds it? 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.’ Just so, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”

Luke 15:1-10 (NRSV)

We do not live to ourselves, and we do not die to ourselves. If we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord; so then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s. For to this end Christ died and lived again, so that he might be Lord of both the dead and the living. Why do you pass judgement on your brother or sister? Or you, why do you despise your brother or sister? For we will all stand before the judgement seat of God. For it is written, ‘As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall give praise to God.’ So then, each of us will be accountable to God.

 Romans 14:7-12 (NRSV)

Message: I do so love the parables of Jesus they point to just how special we are. Today’s points to the core of the Christian mission…love that we find and celebrate. Here we discover that our relationship with God is the foundation and cornerstone upon which everything else is built. Like the parables, real life shows us that the love of God is there for the taking, the lesson is there for the learning and yet there is the problem of sin. The religious leaders of Jesus’ day were indifferent to the lost and even antagonistic toward them. In today’s parables Jesus teaches them and us how wrong it is to reject those who are not part of the family of God. The one thing that matters most to God is the lost, for God will even change the divine approach to keep the promise. The lost matter so much to God that heaven throws a party when even one person comes home, and we should too. We should be willing to demonstrate our concurrence with Christ. We should be willing to celebrate when a lost person discovers Christ. We should be willing to seek and find a lost passion in ourselves for lost people. We need to admit that even Christians lose our way and need a Savior to seek us, find us and restore us so we might then respond to our Savior as Lord. It is in this way we experience love…it is in this way we experience God. It is in this way that our identity as Christians is restored. The church didn’t meet in a central place like we do here in this sanctuary. They met in different houses, and after a while each of the house churches developed a personality all its own. The Christians of Jewish background tended to gravitate toward one another. It was natural, I suppose. Many people thought that not only did the Lord’s Day need to be observed, but so did the Sabbath. Those who spoke Latin met together. The same was true for those who preferred to worship in Greek. Birds of a feather flock together. But that did not mean all the birds got along. Some were vegetarians, not necessarily for reasons of nutrition but because they were afraid that if they purchased meat in the local market it might have once been offered to idols as a sacrifice at one of the pagan temples. That was an abomination to them, so instead of taking the chance, they felt it better to abstain completely… which was all right, except they looked unkindly toward those who did eat meat. And, as you might imagine, there were those who were not as careful about that sort of thing. They thought it was all pretty silly and superstitious. They did not care where their meat had been. There were all these independent Christians running around acting… well, independent. It is okay to be different, to have varying ideas about some things. But here is where the problems start… when we are convinced that we are right and anybody else who disagrees with us or does things differently from us is wrong, trouble follows in seeking and saving the lost.

And So, we need to be committed to reaching the lost and realize that God will be with us in the process. For if I understand Paul correctly, he is saying that in all circumstances God is there. Whether those circumstances are good or bad, God is present…. whether it is meat or vegetable…the Sabbath or the Lord’s Day. And wherever the hand of God is, there is hope for the Gentiles and the nations. Wherever the hand of God is, there is love. God does not leave us. Whether it is an enemy attack or a devastating storm, God’s job is to keep on being God. So, it takes the eyes and ears of faith to find God, it seems, but if we are open to God’s presence, we will find it even as we seek to save the lost. Here we will find the guiding and benevolent hand of God. Sure, we have a responsibility and sure we too often miss the mark but God desires to restore us and so we are to never give up hope for each other despite the priorities and values of people.
 

Pray we have compassion for the lost for we too have been lost. Pray we truly believe that people who are spiritually lost are too valuable to give up on. Pray we repent when our compassion, effort and persistence wanes. Pray we never get disconnected. Pray we seek the transformative experience of the grace of Christ and receive the gift of celebration as Christians. Pray we never lose our identity. Pray we experience the joy of finding the lost. Pray we not search half-heartedly. Pray the lost are found and the found restored. Pray we learn to improve our relationship with God. Pray we experience the joy of finding the lost. Pray we let God get His hands on us and bring us home as God shows the way to others through us to join the party.

Blessings,

John Lawson