The Joy of Being Found

The Joy of being found

Luke 15:1-10

The Parable of the Lost Sheep

[1] Now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear him. [2] And the Pharisees and the scribes grumbled, saying, “This man receives sinners and eats with them.”

[3] So he told them this parable: [4] “What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open country, and go after the one that is lost, until he finds it? [5] And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. [6] And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.’ [7] 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.

The Parable of the Lost Coin

[8] “Or what woman, having ten silver coins, if she loses one coin, does not light a lamp and sweep the house and seek diligently until she finds it? [9] And 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.’ [10] Just so, I tell you, there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”

Introduction

When I was a small child, we used to live in a block of units in Macquarie Park, and our family would always walk to Macquarie Shopping Centre because it was so close to where we lived. And I remember there was one time, before there was Zara, before there was Uniqlo, there was a grocery chain called “Franklins”, this was certainly before your time. But one day when I was at that section of that shopping centre, I was with my mum and the next moment, she was gone. And I suddenly realised, I was lost. You need to know, in those times, I didn’t have a mobile phone, there was no find me apps like today! I remember starting to panic and looking frantically for my mum. I started to get extremely anxious and remember crying. That moment of being lost was terrifying. Eventually, I was found and not lost forever. And I remember just crying and holding my mum tightly. There was relief, there was joy. I wish I could tell you that was one off, but it actually happened to me a few times! But because our home was close, if I lost my mum I would just walk back home and wait at the door. I am sure, that you may have experienced something similar when you were younger.

Last week, Ps Ferdinand preached on the cost of discipleship in Luke 14. Luke 15 now shows us two responses to Jesus: those who know they are lost draw near to hear him, while the religious leaders stand back and grumble. Now the Pharisees should have been the ideal disciples, but we have seen them oppose Jesus throughout the book of Luke.

As we continue through the book of Luke, today’s passage is from Luke 15:1-10 which is the parable of the lost sheep and the lost coin. We will have another chapter on “SHEEPOLOGY” These parables are in direct response to the Pharisees and scribes as Jesus sits with the outcasts and the sinners, all three parables show the lost sinners being found by Jesus. Today’s passage covers two parables that we should be quite familiar with, the chapter actually covers three parables that have a similar theme, the lost sheep, the lost coin and the prodigal son. All the parables have the theme of something lost and then joy of being found. The Prodigal Son may arguably be the most well-known parable. But for today, I’m just going to cover the first two parables, but I hope that we can see it is God who seeks, God who finds and God who rejoices.

We’ll go through three points today, the grumbling, the search and lastly, the joy of being found.

1. The Grumbling

Luke 15:1-2

[1] Now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear him. [2] And the Pharisees and the scribes grumbled, saying, “This man receives sinners and eats with them.”

The passage begins with tax collectors and sinners drawing near to Jesus, while the Pharisees and scribes stand back and grumble. Throughout Luke, crowds are increasingly drawn to Jesus, but opposition from the religious leaders is also growing. These opening verses therefore reveal two very different responses to him: needy people come near to listen, while self-righteous people criticise his welcome.

In Jesus’ day, tax collectors were widely despised because they collected revenue for Rome and were often associated with exploitation. They were regarded by many Israelites as traitors. The word sinners referred broadly to people whose lives were considered to be immorally and who have bad behaviour, these people included drunkards, thieves and prostitutes. These people would never step inside a church and these were precisely the people the religious leaders avoided, yet they were drawing near to hear Jesus.

Yet Jesus ate with them and received them. To the Pharisees, this was scandalous. As teachers who should have shepherded God’s people, they kept their distance from those they considered unclean and feared being contaminated by association. Instead of rejoicing that sinners were coming near to Jesus, they grumbled. Their response exposed their lack of compassion and their self righteousness.

This was not the first time the Pharisees questioned Jesus on sharing a meal with tax collectors and sinners. Luke 5:30–32 says [30] And the Pharisees and their scribes grumbled at his disciples, saying, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?” [31] And Jesus answered them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. [32] I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.”

Sharing a meal represents welcoming people into your life and bringing them into fellowship. And Jesus is a friend of sinners. If you know you are a sinner, then this is the best news for you!

The Pharisees saw the sinners around Jesus, but they do not have the same compassion as him.

Are we in danger of responding like the Pharisees? We may see people who are broken, excluded or far from God without sharing Jesus’ compassion for them. Even faithful church ministry can become inward-looking if we forget why Jesus came. He came not for those who believe they are well, but for those who know they are sick and need the mercy of the great Physician.

Jesus responds to the grumbling Pharisees by telling them parables. Both these parables begin at a loss, a lost sheep and a lost coin.

2. The Search

a. The Shepherd

Luke 15:3-4

In those days, if you owned a 100 sheep, you were quite well off. The shepherd could probably afford to lose a sheep or two. The shepherd knows the lost sheep will not survive on its own, so he goes after it. If you recall Sheepology from Ellis’s sermon last year, you may remember that sheep are helpless – they cannot defend themselves, they are not fast or agile but slow and easy prey for predators, and they are often described as dumb, they have no sense of direction – they sometimes wander off on their own and are quite high maintenance. You have to show a great amount of attention, affection and patience to them.

A few weeks ago, I watched The Sheep Detectives, starring Hugh Jackman, and I have to say, it was surprisingly good! There was one scene about God that really stayed with me. Without giving too much away, three sheep walk past a church and start having this conversation.

Lily looked up at the church. “What is this?”

“This is the church, where someone named God lives,” Sebastian said.

“Who’s God?”

“It’s a bit confusing, God is a shepherd.”

“So he could be our shepherd?” Mopple asked.

“No. Because he’s also a lamb.”

“What?”

“And he’s also invisible. And he’s made of bread. And he damns things.”

“Dams things? Like a beaver?”

“Yes.”

“So God is a big invisible lamb beaver, made of... bread?”

“Yes. And they eat him on Sundays.”

“Poor God,” Mopple said.

In one sense, the sheep are not entirely wrong. God is described as a shepherd, Jesus is called the Lamb, and Christians share in the bread of Communion. But the sheep have misunderstood how all these truths fit together. The result is confusion, and the conversation ends with the words, “Poor God.”

The image of Jesus as a shepherd, however, is central to the parable. Although the shepherd still has ninety-nine sheep, he goes after the one that is lost. He knows how helpless that sheep is, so he searches until he finds it.

When a sheep wanders away, it cannot simply make its way home. It does not know which direction to take, and it cannot rescue itself. All it can do is wait to be found. The shepherd does not say, “It only wandered away. It will eventually find its way back.” He does not say, “I still have ninety-nine sheep, so it doesn’t matter if one is missing.” Nor does he remain at home, waiting for the sheep to return on its own. Instead, the shepherd goes out and searches diligently. He crosses valleys and climbs hills, continuing his search until the lost sheep is found.

The sheep’s rescue depends entirely on the shepherd’s willingness to seek it, his care for it, and his love for it. The sheep is not saved because it finds its own way home. It is saved because the shepherd comes looking for it.

And that brings us to the second picture Jesus gives us. Like the shepherd, a woman also discovers that something valuable is missing. This time, it is not a sheep that is lost, but a coin.

b. The Woman

Luke 15:8

[8] “Or what woman, having ten silver coins, if she loses one coin, does not light a lamp and sweep the house and seek diligently until she finds it?

This parable begins with a woman, and I think it is important to note that Jesus does this intentionally, that he cares for women as he does men. He chose a woman even though he was speaking in response to mostly men - the Pharisees and the scribes. There would have been some women in the crowd, but I think this is a reminder that the ministry, theology and gospel of Jesus is for women too.

The woman greatly values the coin. She has ten and loses one. Each coin was a drachma which was worth about a day’s wages, so we’re not talking about a $2 dollar coin here! You may notice that there is a progression in the parables found in chapter 15. The lost sheep was 1 out of 100, the coin is 1 out of 10 and in the last parable, we will see that there are two sons. Unsurprisingly, the coin was worth a lot to the woman. She searches for the lost coin everywhere, every corner, every nook and cranny, and sweeps the whole house. In those times, there was no electricity, no electric lights, most houses didn’t have windows either and the only source of light was through the door. If you’ve been to our house, you would know that there are like 10 lights in every room. And so, she searches diligently for the lost coin until she finds it. Although the coin is one in ten, it is still valuable to her. Being lost does not make it any less valuable.

Unlike the sheep that can wander, the coin cannot move at all. There is nothing the coin can do for it get found. Just think about it, the room is dark, it can’t emit light or sound to notify of its location right? It’s not an airtag. It’s not like it can roll back into the wallet. What can it do to be found? Absolutely nothing. The rescue depends entirely on the woman.

Like the coin, we are helplessly lost—but never hopelessly so—because Jesus comes to seek and find us.

We are helpless. This image just reminds me of Ephesians 2, that we were once dead in our transgressions, But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved. We who were lost have no inclination or responsiveness towards God, but God in his great love and mercy, made us alive together with Christ.

The Bible often compares us to sheep because we are helpless, needy and prone to wander. Isaiah 53:6 says, “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.” The verse names both our problem and God’s provision: we have turned to our own way, yet the Lord has laid our sin upon another.

These two parables show how deeply God cares for the lost and how greatly he values them. We are lost because, like sheep, we have gone astray and chosen our own way. We are also helpless, like the coin, unable to make ourselves spiritually alive or restore ourselves to God. Yet our helplessness is not hopelessness, because God takes the initiative: he seeks, finds and rescues sinners.

Luke 19:10

[10] For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”

Jesus is the one who searches for the lost, welcomes them home and rejoices over them. He came into the world as the Son of Man to seek and to save the lost. He lived the obedient life we have failed to live, bore the judgement our sins deserve in his death on the cross, and rose again so that sinners can be forgiven and reconciled to God. This rescue is received through repentance and faith in him. That is why heaven rejoices when one sinner turns to Jesus and is found.

When the shepherd finds the lost sheep, he rejoices and when the woman finds the coin, she also rejoices.

3. The Joy in being found!

a. Carried back home

Luke 15:5-7

[5] And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing.

I have 2.5 dogs, Nello and Mabel, and I share custody of Ruby with my sister. When I first saw Mabel, I knew that she was the chosen one, that we were going to take her home with us. And there was time when she was a pup and we went out on our first walk. Mabel would not move an inch because she was afraid of the new environment but also the sound of the cars going past. So, during that walk, I carried her. And it was the sweetest thing. She just curled up against me.

The shepherd finds the sheep, lifts it onto his shoulders and carries it home rejoicing. The sheep contributes nothing to the rescue; it rests entirely on the shepherd’s strength. The picture is tender and secure: the lost sheep is now in the care of the one who sought it, found it and will bring it safely home.

The sheep is not light. It’s not a 5 kg puppy! Do you know how much sheep weigh? I googled it and it weighs between 45kg to 180kg. That is heavy! The Shepherd was able and more than willing to carry that burden.

Did you know one of the earliest discoveries of a Christian statues was that of a shepherd carrying a sheep on his shoulders? It can be found in the Vatican Museum today. This is a beautiful picture of the Gospel and what Christ has done for us.

Because of our sin, we wandered and went astray, unable to restore ourselves. Yet Jesus, the Good Shepherd, came to seek and find us. How was this possible? Just as the shepherd carried the sheep home on his shoulders, Jesus carried the burden of our sin on his shoulders at the cross.

Have you trusted the Shepherd? Have you been lifted up on his shoulders? Do you believe that Jesus bore your sins on the cross and rose again to bring you back to God?

1 Peter 2:24–25 says that “[24] He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. [25] For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.”

When the Shepherd comes home, he invites his friends and neighbours to celebrate because the sheep that was lost is now found.

[6] And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.’ [7] 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.

There is more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous people who need no repentance. Jesus is not teaching that some people have no need to repent; he is exposing those who think they are already righteous. This brings us back to the opening contrast: God rejoices over the very people the Pharisees reject. Jesus is inviting them to abandon their grumbling and share heaven’s joy when sinners repent.

The Pharisees and scribes should have rejoiced that lost people were drawing near to Jesus. Instead, they grumbled. Their refusal to share God’s joy revealed that, despite their religious confidence, they too were far from his heart and in need of repentance.

b. A reason to celebrate

Luke 15:9-10

[9] And 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.’ [10] Just so, I tell you, there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”

Just as the shepherd rejoices, so does the woman. She calls her friends and neighbours because joy naturally wants to be shared. Do you remember the moment you found something that you lost? There was relief, there was joy, there was excitement, there was a lot of emotions. You know this from everyday experience. When I found something, I lost, I immediately tell Nia. We want to share the joy! If we feel this way, imagine the joy in heaven when a lost sinner is found by Jesus and repents. This is not merely relief; it is celebration before God and his angels. What a joy it is to be found.

It’s quite timely, that as I was preparing this sermon, I was looking for something this week for two days. It was a bracket and the bolts to install my car roof rack. I literally turned the house upside down but still couldn’t find it. I think after removing the roof racks last year and also moving house certainly didn’t help. But when I do find it, I will absolutely rejoice!

Us being found does not depend on who we are or what we have done; it depends on who God is and what Jesus has done for us. Salvation is not our achievement. It is God’s gracious rescue from beginning to end.

Every believer has a different story of how God brought them to faith, but the same grace lies beneath every story, we were once lost and could not rescue ourselves, yet Jesus came to seek and save us. Our stories may differ, but our Saviour and our hope are the same.

Jesus does welcome sinners as they are, but he does not leave them as they are. His welcome leads to repentance: turning from sin and turning to God in faith. I encourage you to hang out with unbelievers, with people who are lost but don’t hang just for the sake of hanging out. If you are not careful, you will be led astray but call also call them to repentance. If we are to be like Jesus, we should draw near to people who feel far from God, love them without self-righteousness and point them to the Saviour who forgives and transforms. We do not change people by our own power; the Holy Spirit does that work as they trust and put their faith in Christ.

Do not give up on those who seem far from God. Keep praying for them, loving them and pointing them to Jesus. By God’s grace, you may one day share the joy of seeing them be found and leading to repentance. And if you realise today that you are the one who is lost, hear the good news: Jesus, the Good Shepherd, came to seek and to save the lost. You cannot rescue yourself, but he has done everything necessary through his death and resurrection. Repent from your sin, trust in him and receive the forgiveness, welcome and joy of being found.

Discussion questions:

What struck you the most from the sermon?
What is your natural tendency toward those who are lost? Do you tend to show compassion (like Jesus, grumble (like the Pharisee), or indifferent? Why?

3. How do these two parables change the way you view God and yourself?

How does having Jesus as your true Shepherd help you to love both sinners and self-righteous people?
What are the things you can do this week to love the lost?