Lost and Found
Luke 15:1-10
June 16, 2024 anno Domini
Lost and found are the words of the Lord today for you.
What does it mean to be lost? For the coin and the sheep, it means to be apart from your owner. The sheep is apart from the shepherd. The coin is apart from the woman. For a human lost is to be apart from God. It means to be living alone in sin instead of in Christ.
For the sheep being lost means danger and fear. A sheep without a shepherd will soon be lamb chops for the wolf. A sheep without a shepherd will be paralyzed with fear. A sheep apart from her shepherd will not find the peace of green pasture or still waters.
A coin without a master is useless. It has no purpose. It sits in the darkness and gathers dust. You know what those lost coins look like when you clean your car. A coin’s only value is in its owner’s hand. Money only has value when it is being used. A hundred-dollar bill stuck in the back of grandpa’s recliner doesn’t do any good.
What does the sheep teach you? It teaches you that being lost is your fault. By your craving and passions you run away from God. Apart from God you live in danger and fear until you are devoured. What makes you afraid? The goal of Fox and CNN, the preachers of the world, is to make you afraid – afraid of Trump or Biden, afraid of the right or the left, afraid of floods this year and drought next year. Fear gets votes. Fear gets an audience. Fear divides so that those selling fear can devour. Are you afraid of the next president? Afraid of the Supreme Court? Afraid for the future of the church? Repent. You’re acting like you’re lost, like you are on your own, like the Government is sitting at the right hand of God and not your brother and Savior Jesus Christ. You’re acting like the news is true, when the truth is Jesus Christ has died, risen, and rules. According to Scripture there is only One who can take your life and that He is the One who gave you life, the God Who redeemed your life. By your baptism into His Son, God is your Father. By the seeking of Jesus, you have been found. You’re not lost like the sheep. Don’t be afraid.
What does it mean to be lost like that coin? It means sin is your condition. Being lost is what you are apart from God. Being lost means you have no value, no purpose. Think about how little value is placed on human life among us sinners. How many babies are aborted because men don’t value women or children? How many daughters don’t know the love of a father? Is it any wonder they become promiscuous? How many couples get divorced because they don’t value each other? Is it any wonder that we struggle with worth and value? If you struggle with depression or question your worth – you know this lostness. It is like you are in a corner, gathering dust, with no purpose, no joy, and no use to anyone.
There is one more point to learn from the coin and the sheep. They and you play no part in being found. Anyone who says, “I found Jesus” is mistaken. Jesus isn’t lost. You are. You are as unable as that coin to find your owner. You are like a sheep who gladly eats his way into trouble and never looks or listens for the Shepherd’s voice.
God must find you and He wants to find you. He is the Shepherd who leaves the 99 to search for the one. He is the woman who tears apart her house to find that one coin. God sent His Son to seek and to save the lost – you. Christ tore the world apart searching for the lost. He brought down Kings and destroyed empires. He divided families and nations. God has swept the world with the news of His Son to shine the light of His Word into her darkest corners.
How does Jesus find you? The Shepherd goes where the sheep is lost. Into the raging river, down the cliff, into the jaws of the lion. Jesus becomes a man and then goes in the sinner’s place. He comes to where you are. He becomes sin for you, cast off from His Father. Hear how lost He is for you at the cross, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?” His purpose is to be lost so we can be found, to be alone with our sin so we can be welcomed by the Father into the communion of saints and the resurrection of heaven.
He saves you like that woman seeking the coin. She stayed up all night. She deprived herself of sleep. She went into the dirtiest places in her home. She pulled the stove out, looked behind the fridge, and ventured into that dark and dingy room in the basement she normally avoided. She had her heart and eyes set on that lost coin. Jesus deprived Himself because He had His eyes on you. He set aside His glory and honor to take on human flesh. He set aside the praise of the angels for the scorn of the crowds. He owned no home, married no wife, bought no property. He went into the dirtiest places – He sat down with tax collectors and sinners, because His light would dispel their darkness. His death takes away your sin. His blood washes you clean. His love makes you lovely again and restores you to your true value. You are child of God, beloved of the Father through His Son.
Being found is not just an event in your life it is your identity. You weren’t just baptized a long time ago, you are baptized. You weren’t merely born from above, you are a living child of God. You are found. That means you’re back under God’s ownership. You are His. Your sin doesn’t define you. The darkness isn’t your dwelling place. Your value isn’t silver or gold, but the holy and precious blood of His son. You don’t have to trust in Republicans or Democrats to make heaven on earth. Don’t be afraid when you watch Fox and Fears or the Catastrophic News Network. You have heaven on earth right here. You have a Father who created you and redeemed you. You have a brother who loved you to death and volunteered to take your punishment. You are not alone, for the Holy Spirit has brought you into the communion of saints and angels.
Every sheep that is rescued and every coin that is found results in a party for the whole neighborhood. Why? Because the angels in heaven rejoice over a single sinner who repents, over every little one that is found – that’s you.
You have a purpose. That is most evident in the found coin. A lost coin is useless to anyone. But once it is back in the hand of the owner it can purchase a Rib-eye steak, or get a noisy toy for the grandson, or buy some fireworks to celebrate our freedom. That coin can go in the offering plate to support the preaching of God’s Word, or it can stand up for life at the Pregnancy Resource Center. That’s you, when you are found. Your purpose is whatever God has given you to do – to work to supply your needs, to care for your family, to help the helpless and love the loveless, to support the Gospel so that Christ’s light can still shine in the darkness and the Shepherd can still seek the lost. You once were lost, but now are found and the angels rejoice and so should you. in the name of Jesus. Amen.