Amelia Church of Christ - Christian Church in Amelia, OH near Cincinnati in Clermont County

We’re about halfway through our summer series of messages called Stories. In this series, we are listening to the greatest storyteller to ever live. His name is Jesus. Jesus was a master teacher, and a master storyteller. His stories, or parables, have fascinated people, they have bothered people, they have comforted people, and they have challenged people for thousands of years.

Today we’re exploring two of my favorite parables from Jesus. This is the only week in the series where we’re actually going to hear two of Jesus’ parables, but these stories are often called “twin parables.” Jesus told these two stories as a set, so we’re going to explore them as a set.

They are the parables of the lost sheep and the lost coin in Luke 15. Let’s pray and then we’ll get things rolling.

Luke sets the scene for us beginning in the first verse of chapter 15. Like we’ve been saying throughout this series, it’s really important to know the context in which Jesus told these stories. What was going on? What prompted him to tell these stories in the first place?

Here’s the scene. Luke tells us, “Now the tax collectors and “sinners” were all gathering around to hear [Jesus]. But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.” (Luke 15:1-2, NIV)

This is a pretty familiar scene in Jesus’ life. It seemed to happen over and over again. Jesus surrounded himself with sinful people, and the religious people couldn’t stand it.

Luke tells us that tax collectors and “sinners” had all gathered around Jesus to hear him teach. Tax collectors were hated for two reasons. (1) They collected taxes for the hated Roman government. Rome had conquered the land of the Jewish people and they were regarding as a foreign occupying force. (2) And tax collectors were also hated because they would charge people extra for their taxes, and they would pocket the difference. They usually grew very wealthy through their dishonesty.

The “sinners” that Luke talks about could be any number of people. Regardless of who they were, the religious leaders viewed them as outcasts to be avoided because of their sinful lifestyle.

But did you see why all these sinful people were with Jesus? They all gathered around them so they could hear him. They hungered for God’s truth. They were desperate for grace and forgiveness. They loved Jesus, and they wanted Him to change their lives.

Andy Stanley wrote, “People who were nothing like Jesus, liked Jesus. And Jesus liked people who were nothing like Him.”

The Pharisees believed that the only way someone could be righteous was to completely separate themselves from “sinners.” Jesus destroyed this way of thinking, by spending much of his time with very sinful, broken people. In fact, Jesus seemed to enjoy the company of sinful people much more than he enjoyed the company of religious people. Maybe you don’t want to hear that. Maybe that makes you uncomfortable. But take a look at the gospels for yourself. Who did Jesus spend most of his time with? Sinners. Who received his harshest criticism? Religious people.

Later on in the book of Luke, Jesus tells us why He spent so much time with “the wrong kind of people.” He said, “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost." (Luke 19:10, NIV)

Jesus often referred to Himself as “the Son of Man.” So in this verse, He tells us what His mission is. Seek and save what was lost.

And His church is called to carry on this same mission. We are not called to avoid sinful people. We are called to engage them. To be involved with them. To love them. To serve them. All with the hope that they will one day come to Christ.

Jesus’ church should have clean hearts and dirty hands. The problem is that the church often gets those two mixed up. Spiritual arrogance and pride often pollutes our heart, while our hands stay squeaky clean because we completely avoid sinful people.

When you think about it, the church has often looked a lot more like the Pharisees than Jesus. The Pharisees wouldn’t go to places where sinful people gathered. They wouldn’t associate with them. They certainly wouldn’t have dinner with them. They kept themselves completely separate from sinners, believing that this would make them pure and holy.

Jesus, on the other hand, went to where sinful people gathered. He purposely got involved in their lives. He attended their parties. He ate at their tables. And in this culture, when you sat down to eat with someone, it was the ultimate sign of love and acceptance. Jesus gladly associated with sinful, messed up, broken people, because that’s why He came. He didn’t come for self-righteous, arrogant, religious types. He came for sinners, and He would go to incredible lengths to rescue them.

Jesus used the complaints and grumblings from the religious leaders as a launch point to tell a couple of stories. These parables are among the simplest stories that Jesus ever told. Some parables take some time to decipher their meaning. In these stories, Jesus makes the truth come alive in a way that is unmistakable.

Starting in verse 3, the Bible says, “Then Jesus told them this parable: "Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Does he not leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it?

And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, 'Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.'

I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.” (Luke 15:3-7, NIV)

In this story, Jesus tells us about a shepherd that has a flock of 100 sheep. He does a head count and realizes that one of them has gone missing. Now, this flock was sizable enough that some people might not have been too concerned if only one was missing.

But in our story, the shepherd does the unthinkable. He leaves the other 99 sheep in the open country and goes in search of the missing one.

And when he finds it, he doesn’t punish the sheep for wandering off. It wasn’t beaten with a rod, as was often the case. Instead, the shepherd hoists the sheep on his shoulders and gently carries it back home.

And then, he does something even more out of the ordinary. He calls his friends and neighbors to come and celebrate the recovery of the sheep. Sheep were property. Nothing more, nothing less. And unless a person had a very small flock, losing one was just considered the cost of doing business in the shepherding industry.

One sheep was normally seen as expendable. You didn’t leave your entire flock to search for one missing lamb. And you definitely didn’t throw a party when you found it.

But this shepherd doesn’t fit the mainstream thinking. He doesn’t share the priorities of his culture. This sheep meant the world to him. It wasn’t expendable. He would do whatever it took to rescue it.

Now, Jesus immediately follows this story with another one. Pick it up in verse 8. Jesus says, “Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins and loses one. Does she not light a lamp, sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it? And when she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbors together and says,

‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost coin.’ In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.” (Luke 15:8-10, NIV)

This story is a parallel to the story of the lost sheep. In this story, it is a woman who loses a silver coin. The coin in question was a drachma. It’s hard to know exactly how much it was worth. Some have suggested it was worth about a day’s wages.

When the woman discovers that she has lost this coin, she sets out on a mission to find it. She lights a lamp, sweeps her house, and searches everywhere until she finds it.

And then, she does exactly what the shepherd did in the previous story. She calls her friends and neighbors to come and celebrate the fact that she found her coin.

Celebrating a sheep was strange enough, but it was REALLY strange to celebrate finding a single coin. It was worth far less than a sheep. It seems like a pretty insignificant thing, but she threw a party to celebrate the recovery of the coin.

Both of these stories teach a very simple, but very critical, truth about God. Lost people matter to God. They matter more to God than we will ever understand.

The shepherd and the woman in our stories both represent God, and how He feels toward lost people. And these stories should be the fuel in our church’s engine, as well. If God feels this strongly about reaching lost people, then our church had better be all about reaching lost people. It’s really that simple.

When you think through our stories today, you see that both the shepherd and the woman cared deeply for something that seemed insignificant to other people.

The sheep and the coin were of little consequence to the average person in this culture. Sure, you would be annoyed if you lost one of these things. But you wouldn’t turn your life upside down to find them. They weren’t that important.

That’s exactly how the church has often viewed lost people. Sure, we think they should come to Jesus. We think that it would be nice if they were saved. But honestly, it’s just not that important to us. It’s not going to bother us if they go to hell.

I’ve got a question…how can that NOT bother us? How can we possibly be ok with that? What is not important to a lot of churches is very important to God. There is no such thing as an expendable person. There is no such thing as an insignificant person. And it is never ok for a church to sit idly by as people enter into eternity without Jesus.

God loves that person who lives on “the other side of the tracks.” God loves that person who contracted a sexually transmitted disease through their own sinful choices. God loves that person who is an addict. God loves that person who spews nothing but hatred for Him and His church. God loves that person that you would never associate with in a million years.

Those are exactly the people that Jesus intentionally chose to hang around. They are valuable to him, and so they’d better be valuable to us.

If you think that you’re too good, too holy, or too religious to associate with this kind of person, if you don’t want that kind of person in “your church,” then maybe this shouldn’t be “your church” anymore. You would have fit in very well with the Pharisees…but you won’t fit in here.

Our church is all about loving people the way Jesus loved people. We don’t care about your sinful past, or even your sinful present. The simple truth is that you matter to God and you matter to us. Your past doesn’t shock us. Your sins don’t scare us. Because we believe that the grace and love of Jesus can change any life.

Now, there is something else that should absolutely drill us from these two stories. Honestly, this ought to rock the church of Jesus Christ to her core. This second principle from these stories really has the power to change everything the church does and everything that the church is about.

In our stories, both the shepherd and the woman went to ridiculous extremes to rescue what was lost.

The shepherd left 99 perfectly good sheep to find the one that was lost.

The woman turned her house upside down on a mad hunt to find her coin.

Both of them didn’t give a second thought to what their neighbors would think of them. The opinions of others didn’t matter. The only thing that mattered was rescuing what was lost. And if that meant that everyone else thought they were crazy, so be it.

As the church of Jesus Christ, we are called to go to ridiculous extremes to reach people who are lost. Ridiculous, audacious, seemingly crazy extremes.

But that’s not how the church has historically approached evangelism. The evangelistic approach of the American church has largely been about, “You come to us. You come and learn our language. Learn our traditions. Learn to fit into our culture. You come to us.”

The shepherd didn’t wait for the sheep to come to him. He left everything and went to find it.

The woman didn’t wait around, hoping that she would just stumble upon her lost coin. She turned her life upside down to find it.

That is how Jesus approached lost people, and that’s how He has called us as his church to approach lost people. Jesus hung around at wells. He spent time in the marketplace. These were the social gathering places in this society.

In other words, Jesus went to where people were. He didn’t wait for them to find Him.

When was the last time you purposely went out of your way to rub shoulders with a lost person? When was the last time you went to where they are…where they are comfortable? Instead of waiting for them to enter your comfort zone?

You need to go to somebody this week. Go to where they are comfortable. And you need to personally invite them to come to church with you next week. Next week, our message is all about the gospel. People will hear, and they will understand, what Jesus did for them and how much he loves them. But it doesn’t start with them coming to us. It starts with us going to them. Invite them. Tell them that if they come to church next week, you’ll hang with them the whole time. Do whatever you can. Go out of your way. Leave your comfort zone to make them comfortable enough to come and hear the gospel.

God is calling our church to leave what is considered normal. Leave what is considered safe. He is calling us to go to ridiculous lengths to rescue people who are lost.

That is going to mean a lot of sacrifices on our part. That is going to mean sacrificing deeply held traditions. That is going to mean leaving the comfortable in favor of the uncomfortable. That is going to mean doing some things that seem crazy to other people.

Think again about what Jesus said. “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost." (Luke 19:10, NIV)

This was the reason that Jesus came to earth. It was, and it still is, His mission. Only now, He carries out this mission through His church. The church cannot passively pursue this mission. Lost people matter deeply to God. He has given us the task of leading the search-and-rescue mission.

Let’s bottom line it. The bottom line is that hell is real. Everyday, we are surrounded by people who really will spend their eternity there unless they meet Jesus. And no tradition, no sacred cow, no amount of comfort should stand in the way of rescuing them.

The people in Jesus’ stories went to ridiculous extremes to find what was lost. So did Jesus. The cross sure seems like a ridiculous extreme. It seems totally, completely ridiculous for the Son of God to give His life to rescue a bunch of sinful screw-ups like us. Seriously…it’s ridiculous! It makes no logical sense!

In 1 Corinthians, the Bible says, “For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written: “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.” (1 Corinthians 1:18-19, NIV)

The message of the cross sounds absolutely foolish. It just makes no sense for God to allow Himself to be beaten, whipped, spat upon, insulted, crowned with thorns, and crucified. It’s ridiculous…until you come to understand His ultimate mission.

“For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost." (Luke 19:10, NIV) For Jesus, this was His life’s mission. In fact, it was the mission that cost Him His life. And it is now the mission that He was passed on His church.

When it comes to the church, here is the question that should be the first one that we always ask.

Will there be more people in heaven if we do this?

Any decision, any mission, any vision that is launched at our church…this question should be the first one that is asked. The question is not, “How much will it cost?” The question is not, “Will everybody like it?” The question is not, “Will this make me uncomfortable?”

The question is, “Will there be more people in heaven if we do this?”

When that becomes the first question we ask, we will know that we’ve arrived. We’ll know that we’re in the sweet spot of Jesus’ vision for our church. That was His mission, and that is our mission. Nothing more, nothing less.

Now, there is one more thing that Jesus makes very clear in our stories. This is so cool.

In both stories, Jesus tells us that there is a celebration in heaven when one sinner repents.

Let’s go back to what Jesus said at the end of our stories. Check this out.

Jesus said, “…there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.” (Luke 15:7b, NIV)

And then He said, “…there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.” (Luke 15:10b, NIV)

This is the only thing that causes a party to break out in heaven. When a sinner places their faith in Christ, all heaven breaks loose. The party is on. The angels shout. God Himself rejoices.

The Bible never says that God throws a party when you tithe. It never says that there is a party in heaven when you pray. We’re never told that God throws a big bash when you read your Bible.

All of those things are good. They are all essential parts of your walk with Christ. But they don’t make the angels put on party hats and blow silly noisemakers.

That is specifically reserved for one thing…when a lost person comes home. That is the ONE thing that throws heaven in party mode.

The one thing that causes a party to bust loose in heaven is this…

Heaven is coming apart at the seams right now! The party is on! Isn’t it cool that we worship a God who knows how to party? I love that. I want to be part of a church that makes sure the party never stops in heaven, because we never stop doing whatever it takes to bring lost people to Christ.

Right before Jesus told the stories that we’ve been exploring today, all the religious leaders looked at Him and said, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.” (Luke 15:2b, NIV)

Aren’t you glad that’s true? This statement sums up why the Pharisees hated Jesus…but it sums up why I love Him. He welcomes me. He wants to hang out with me. As wicked and sinful as I am, He never leaves me. He forgives me. He gives me another chance. He loves me.

That is what Jesus is all about. And it’s what our church is all about. Our mission is to do whatever it takes to give people the gospel. Go wherever God says to go. Do whatever God says to do. Even if it seems crazy. Nothing can ever stand in the way of our mission to rescue people who are lost, because God loves them more than we’ll ever know.

And if you’re here today and you’ve been living your life without Christ…man, I hope you’ve heard the heart of God today. He went to a ridiculous extreme to save you. He died on a cross to pay the price for your sin so you wouldn’t have to. He took the punishment of your sin for you. You’ve already seen Kayla give her life to Christ today, but the invitation for you is still wide open.

“This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.” (Luke 15:2b, NIV) That’s great news for me…and it’s great news for you.

Mike Edmisten

Tags: evangelism, Luke 15, Luke 19:10, Parable of the Lost Coin, Parable of the Lost Sheep, parables, Stories