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 is a grievance somewhere, a score to settle against somebody, for some reason. For some of us, we milk it for all we are 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 taking a person accounting of what is in our inventory so there might be reconciliation. It is an exercise, but it is not a game. For it is true about people who are spiritually lost as well. 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 hopeful and 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 and also ourselves. So, Do You Act As If You Are Accountable To God When Sharing The Gospel To 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)
For it is we who are the circumcision, who worship in the Spirit of God and boast in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh— even though I, too, have reason for confidence in the flesh. If anyone else has reason to be confident in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, a member of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew born of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless. Yet whatever gains I had, these I have come to regard as loss because of Christ. More than that, I regard everything as loss because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and I regard them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ.
Philippians 3:3-8a (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. Birds of a feather flock together. But that does not mean all the birds get along. Many are well, independent. And 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, in his letter to the Philippians Paul was focusing on seeking and saving lost Gentiles and Jews. He has been warning against those who would try to turn Christians from God back to the old futile ways of the Law. He draws on his own life experience to try to help people realize that going back to the old ways would be a bad move. You see, for the Philippians, being a Christian was not easy, for many it cost them all they had, and for Paul, the price was high was high as well. And yet, Paul, in the middle of all he lost to follow Jesus, was able to stay joyful and happy. Now you may wonder how it is that a man in prison for his faith, a man who has lost his power, his prestige, and his position, a man who was beaten, was able to maintain a sense of happiness and joy in his life. What is instructive is how Paul went about this. He did a mental accounting of his life. He uses the words gain and loss as on a balance sheet. He started the process of re-evaluating his life after Jesus confronted him and showed him the power to overcome sin and death. Paul is joyful because he is looking forward to his own resurrection. Paul shows us that life can be fulfilling when we re-evaluate what is important and when we make Jesus the center of our life and realize that being committed to reaching the lost help us to understand that finding Jesus is indeed of greatest value and tips the balances in the process of self-evaluation. For if I understand Paul correctly, he is saying that in all circumstances God is there to weigh in on what needs to be. Whether we consider those circumstances are good or bad, God is present. And wherever the hand of God is, there is hope and joy. Wherever the hand of God is, there is love. You see, God does not leave us when life is difficult. 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 different 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 do 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 in Christ’s victory.
Blessings,
John Lawson
Daily Devotionals 