Luke 15: 1-5 - "Searching For The Lost"

“I once was lost, but now I’m found.” Luke 15 is the gospel within the gospel. This passage reminds us that God is the one who is searching for the lost.

Jesus is eating with outsiders in this lesson, affiliated with those in great need of social services, the riff raff or people we would not get caught upon. They were people that the society of the day looked down upon, the prostitutes and tax collectors. They are listening to what he has to say and are somehow they are experiencing a presence of God’s grace and mercy in this rabbi.

Now the Pharisees were upset that Jesus was eating with these unclean people, these people who are a LOST CAUSE. The Pharisees kept the 613 laws of Old Testament; this made them feel right with God, for they were lost is keeping the rules.

So Jesus tells the story of the one lost sheep. “Which one of you, have a hundred sheep and losing one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and after the one that is lost until he finds it?” This doesn’t make any economic sense. There is no economic gain in risking the 99 for this one! But Jesus says that there is great joy for the one lost sheep than for all 99 who’ve never gone astray.

Have you have ever felt lost? It’s easy to get lost when we think we know where we are going. Men sometimes don’t ask for directions, but really lost. We sometimes get lost in the details; the rules; my plans and what I think life’s about. We get lost in ministry and wondering into areas that are irrelevant and not important in the big picture. When we get lost in all the doing, we can sometimes lose the joy of living.

Do you see yourself as one of the ninety-nine or the one lost? I usually see myself as a part of the 99. I’ve found the light; we like to say when we have experienced conversion moments in our lives. Hey, I’m a pastor. I’m teaching my kids the Lord’s Prayer; it’s a good thing to do and the right thing. But we can get lost in doing the right thing.

Jesus was searching for the lost and the religious establishment was resentful. They didn’t want to be compared to the shepherd, for their work was like the “Dirty Jobs” show on TV.

Jesus was searching for the one lost sheep and for the ninety-nine sheep that were lost and didn’t realize it. The irony is that the ninety-nine sheep didn’t think they were lost. “There is more joy in heaven for one lost sheep than for (mockingly say this) all of you who don’t think you are lost”, as if you are not lost.

What is interesting about the one lost sheep and the ninety-nine is that none of them realized that they were lost. The sheep never came to himself and said, “Hey, I’m lost.” It doesn’t realize it’s lost nor does it attempt to return! They stay lost until the FINDER searches for them; those lost people; wandering aimless with out the joy of the Lord; who have lost that loving feeling. When we lose that which brings us the greatest joy, we are lost.

Remember that there is a God who is searching for you. There is joy for all of us, for we are all like sheep who’ve gone astray. Thank God that God’s spirit is searching for us…

Let us pray, Gracious God, we are walking lost together. Help us to be lost in wonder of love and praise of your mercy, for we are all lost who have gone astray.

Luke 16:1-13 - "Scheming Faith"

Jesus is not praising dishonest business dealing. Jesus showed that this “scheming” was a good skill. The word means “prudent” or “wise” or “practical”. Scheming faith is what Jesus is telling the disciples the way to go. We shouldn’t be naive, but look to this shrewd example for faithful service.

I think that there are three main points we can take from this passage that would help us to have prudent faith as we are called to grow this ministry. If we are to continue to develop ministry programs and activities in new ways here at Living Waters, I believe this passage can help us to reach out to the ever growing needs in our community.

First of all, we are called to the take the initiative[i]. This steward was about to be fired and had to settle his outstanding sales accounts with his customer clients. He goes up to them and deals with the final details. He doesn’t just dump responsibilities. He initiates the conversation without informing these two customers that he has been fired.

As a church community, we must encourage our leaders to take the initiative in developing their ministries in new ways. One example was a new person was invited to help with the media preparation for worship on Fridays each week. I told her thank you for her serving before she was about to be trained by our Office Manager and encouraged her to find a partner to team up with so that they could do this area of ministry together. They could rotate the schedule or manage it in a way that would be beneficial to both. We need leaders to take the initiative in new ways.

Secondly, this lesson helps us to see that this manager was willing to cut his commission. One commentator suggests that when he told the person who had to pay one hundred jugs of oil to cut it by fifty percent and the person who owed 100 bags of wheat to cut his bill by twenty percent, the manager was taking a short term lose for a long term gain. He was willingly to lose the short term benefit so that he could be invited into their homes later.

We are called to serve other unconditionally without expecting a return on our investment in relationship because we have been invited into the eternal home. We care for others with love and mercy so that people see we are not asking for anything in return. We don’t serve because we have to but because we know that our eternal home is secure with God. We are free not to worry about our eternal retirement plan.

Finally, this scheming steward was willing to take drastic actions[ii]. We are called again and again to turn our lives around in the direction that God is leading. We might discover that we are called to serve in an area that we never thought we had the gifts for but in an area we truly are called to serve. There will be times when we must confess to one another our mistakes. Then there is the drastic action of coming to worship, being a part of a small group, opening your hands and hearts to received the bread and wine. These actions are drastic compared to the cut throat and rugged individualism of the world.

So be prudent my friends, be practical and see that God will work in the simple ways of the world that might not seem so holier than though.

Let us pray, Gracious God, help us to see that you will provide for us in some very basic ways that don’t seem as holy and innocent.

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[i] www.homileticsonline.com – sermon points from “Smooth Operator”; changed to fit our setting

[ii] ibid

Luke 13:10-17 - "Bent on Healing"

For eighteen years, she was bent over forward. I would like to invite you to lean forward in your chair if you are able and remain there for 18 seconds. (bend over as preacher and count to 18). You can sit up, if you want to. Perhaps the back needs to be stretched. For this woman, she was in this posture of being bent over for eighteen years. She had a “posture of forced humility”.[1] Everyone knew her in town. Day after day she walked like that. Week after week, she most likely attended the synagogue for worship, walking in again and again, week after week in the same posture over and over again. No one knows what happened, what made her snap and perhaps fracture a vertebrae in her back; what arthritic pain she had been carrying; what burden she’d been carrying, what abusive form of evil that had bound her.

Here she is at synagogue, minding her own business, listening to the visiting rabbi preach. We don’t even know what Jesus preached about that day, like many a sermon that is not memorable. Yet she walked there weekly, carrying the burden of the human condition of sin that knows no cure! Yet when Jesus is done preaching, he sees her and Jesus calls her over – makes her walk to him.

Jesus was bent on healing and would bend over backward to restore this woman so that she could walk with God in a new way. In Genesis 3:8-9, it states, “They heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden at the time of the evening breeze, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD”. Why did they hide? Fear! They were afraid, afraid perhaps of punishment. The sound of God was present and God was searching out for them, but they were hiding, weighed down by the burden of the knowledge of good and evil, a burden that humanity would carry for a long time, manifested in the laws requirements. The law required that men and women sit on different sides of the synagogue.

Jesus was seeking out this woman, who ironically stands out in the crowd. She never asked for this healing; she didn’t come to worship looking for the power of positive thinking. She just showed up every week. Jesus asked her forward and she crossed over that gender line and allowed Jesus to heal her with his words, “be loosed” and with his hands as he touched her and stood up straight. She praised God and people were amazed.

The religious leader was upset. Religious leader was more concerned about the law and the legalistic interpretation of Sabbath rest; and it would be easy to preach about the value of the Sabbath; but Jesus calls them hypocrites. A hypocrite was a pretender. In the Greek world it related to wearing different masks, like in the theatre; as an actor was pretending to be a different character. This religious synagogue leader was pretending to be concerned for this relationship between God and humanity but more interested in maintaining the laws and their roles. Jesus reminds them of their compassion for animals, whom they didn’t want to suffer on a hot day but allowing the people to give a drink to their animals. Yet they didn’t care for this woman, a daughter of Abraham. The religious leaders were bent on being right than right living; bent on absolutes instead of absolution; bent on the “truth” instead of trust; and bent on being correct instead of connected and concerned. But Jesus was bent on healing and restoring this woman to walk with God in a new way.

I want you to think about what you’ve been bent on in your life. Think about 1989, August, which was eighteen years ago. What was going on in your life? What burden were you carrying? What was going on in your life? I had just resigned from my role as Youth Director in Russell, Kansas and then had hernia surgery and returned to Chicago, uncertain I’d want to walk into a role as a Youth Director again. 1989! What burden were you carrying? What happened that year? (Pause for people to share). Remember, that woman didn’t attend the synagogue with the idea of being called upon. It’s dangerous what happens when we step inside these walls. (Pause for sharing….)

The Bible reminds us that we are to “bear one another’s burdens” (Galatians 6:2). I’ve known some of you for half of those 18 years, as it’s been nine years ago that I’ve been your Pastor! You’ve carried burdens, but you have returned for worship and we continue to be bent on sharing that grace that helps us to walk straight into this day where, like that woman, we too can GLORIFY GOD!!! Jesus is here bent on healing so that we may walk with this journey in a new way.

Let us pray, Gracious God, heal us as we lift those burdens up to you and bear them on the cross. Bring healing even when there isn’t a cure, in Jesus name. Amen!

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[1] C.H. Spurgeon, http://home.twcny.rr.com/lyndale/Pentecost%2013C.htm