SERIES: Parables: Slanted Stories with a Kingdom Intent -- “The Lost Sheep, Coin & Sons”

Luke 15:1-32

1. have you ever lost anything that was valuable to you?

2. this past week I flew to Boise & went camping with my dad (87 yrs old), 2 brothers, nephew & niece. Our favorite spot is an isolated campground next to the head waters of the Crooked River in the Boise National Forest – no electricity, running water or toilet facilities. It’s wonderful, heaven on earth! My younger brother Brent was bathing in the river a few years ago & accidentally lost his wedding ring. It slipped right off his soapy finger. He searched for the ring but didn’t find it. My dad even took his metal detector into the water to look for it but Brent’s ring is still in that river somewhere, lost.

3. today we start our summer series on the parables of Christ: Slanted Stories with a Kingdom Intent. We begin in Luke 15 – the parables of the lost sheep, the lost coin & the 2 lost sons.

tax collectors & sinners vs. Pharisees & teachers of the law (15:1-2)
1. the temptation in Luke 15 is to skip over verses 1-2. Don’t let that happen to you. These verses contain the interpretative key to the 3 parables that follow.

2. the Pharisees & teachers of the law are upset with Jesus. He wasn’t spending enough of his time at church potlucks. INSTEAD he hung out with the wrong kind of people – tax collectors & sinners. He invites himself to backyard BBQs with people who are failures – people who fail to keep the law, fail to observe the Sabbath, fail to keep the marriage bed pure & fail to drink in moderation.
3. he doesn’t just eat their BBQed ribs, he welcomes these people into his life. In Jesus’ time & culture, to welcome & eat with tax collectors & sinners is to embrace them as some of your best & closest friends.

4. Jesus is breaking the rules here & the keepers of the rules (Pharisees & teachers of the law) are upset. Jesus tells 3 stories to set things straight – of 100 sheep, 10 silver coins & 2 lost sons. Sheep, coins, sons.

the lost sheep (15:3-7)
1. God is like a shepherd who searches after 1 lost sheep until he finds it. He calls his friends & neighbors together & says – rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.

2. and then the punch line – I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over 1 sinner who repents than over 99 righteous persons who do not need to repent.

3. the tax collectors & sinners are the 1 lost sheep. That’s why he eats with them. IN CONTRAST the Pharisees and the teachers of the law are the 99 righteous persons who do not need to repent, at least to their minds.

4. when we went to Europe 5 years ago we visited the catacombs outside of Rome. The catacombs are underground cemeteries. Christ-followers were buried here. But more important Christ-followers worshiped in hiding in the catacombs during times of persecution. The one predominate image of Christ found on the catacomb walls
is of Jesus the good shepherd who joyfully puts (the lost sheep) on his shoulders and goes home.

5. in the face of persecution & death those 1st followers of Christ recognized that apart from Christ they were lost. He was their shepherd. They were the lost sheep that he had found.

6. who do you identify with this morning? The 99 righteous sheep or the 1 lost sheep?

the lost coin (15:8-10)
1. God is like a woman who searches her house for a lost silver coin until she finds it. She calls her friends & neighbors together & says - rejoice with me; I have found my lost coin.

2. and then the punch line – In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.

3. the tax collectors and sinners, Jesus’ friends, are the one sinner who repents. That’s why he eats with them.

4. there are some common themes running through these 2 stories: 1st something is lost – 1 sheep & 1 silver coin. 2nd someone is searching for the lost – the shepherd & the woman. 3rd there is rejoicing when the lost is found – friends, neighbors, heaven. 4th God himself is the searching shepherd & the lighting-the-lamp, sweeping-the-house woman.

5. Jesus’ point is unmistakable – tax collectors & sinners matter to God & everyone like them matter to God.

the lost sons (15:11-32)
1. in this parable God is like a waiting father who welcomes his lost son home AND he is like a pleading father who reasons with his lost-at-home-son.

2. the younger son – 15:11-24:
® takes an early buy-out on his share of the estate
® blows it all in Las Vegas on wine, women & song
® gas prices go up, housing prices go down – he ends up with nothing & gets a job busing tables
® he came to his senses = point of repentance in the story = Father I have sinned against heaven & against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired men
® younger son heads home & father sees him walking down the front lane
® while he was still a long way off, his father saw him & was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him & kissed him = picture of God = the seeing Father, compassionate Father, running Father, embracing Father, kissing Father & then the feasting & celebrating Father!

3. the older son – 15:25-32:
® hears the music & dancing for the younger brother
® became angry & refused to go in
® now we see the pleading father = so his father went out & pleaded with him but it didn’t work
® the self-righteous behavior of the older brother kicks in = all these years I’ve been slaving for you, never disobeyed your orders, you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends = sounds like the Pharisees & the teachers of the law = when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!
® the father sets things straight – you are always with me, and everything I have is yours, we had to celebrate & be glad, this brother of yours was dead & is alive, was lost & is found

4. if we read this parable in light of 15:1-3, the parallels become crystal clear: the older son/brother represents the Pharisees & the teachers of the law. The younger son/brother represents the tax collectors & sinners.

5. sin often splits into 2 different expressions. 1st legalistic righteousness – the Pharisees & the teachers of the law. These are the people who try to ‘do good’ their way into God’s favor. Rules & standards of behavior are important. They keep score. People are either in or out, black & white people. Thick judgmentalism.

6. then there’s the live & let live version – the younger son. Those who run from laws, rules, expectations. They love freedom & personal autonomy. No one is going to tell them how to run their lives.

7. and both are lost. And both desperately need the searching, forgiving, embracing Father.

8. Jesus is speaking to the people who will eventually kill him. But look what he does. Through the father in the story he comes out & pleads with the Pharisees & older brothers to relent & come to the feast of salvation.

9. the feast, music, dancing & joy of salvation wrap its arms around both types of sin – licentiousness or legalistic righteousness.

so what?
1st who do you identify with in these stories?
1. the younger son? If so its time to come to your senses & come home to your Father.

2. the older brother? If so it’s time to listen to the pleading Father & leave your life of legalistic righteousness.

3. do any of us identify with God the Father in these stories? Do we have a heart for lost people? Are we seeing, compassionate, running, embracing, kissing, feasting & celebrating people?

4. do these words burn in our hearts? – this son of mine was dead & is alive again; he was lost & is found? This friend of mine, co-worker, father, wife, brother, neighbor. This is how God views people – do we? Dead, live; lost, found; rejoicing in heaven.

2nd CAC mission
1. I am praying for 10 people to say “yes” to Jesus for salvation through our church this year. If you’ve said “yes” to Jesus for salvation this year please let me know.

2. in our Summer of Service as we feed the hungry, build a house for the homeless, clean up our city & reach out to Canby with social & medical services, we need to pray & serve with this in mind – lost sheep, lost coins, lost wayward sons & lost legalistic sons are precious in God’s sight. He came to find them & he died to save them.

3.


Music i listened to while sermonizing – ennio morricone; bruce springsteen; joni mitchell; neil young;

Books i read & studied while sermonizing – a step from death by larry woiwode; choosing to love the world by thomas merton;

Sermons, podcasts I listened to while sermonizing – fresh air: pete hamill remembers robert f. kennedy; fresh air: sedaris bares body & soul in engulfed;