Reading - Luke 15.1-32

For five Wednesday nights we studied evangelism...

• Making a difference where we are...

• How to lead others to Jesus...

• How to return stray sheep... Lost coins... And prodigal sons home to God.

In our lesson last Sunday we noted that Jesus was and is The Good Shepherd... And that God through Paul admonishes us to be conformed into the image of his Son, Jesus. So, we too are to become shepherds, leading and pointing others to God and caring enough for others to bring them back to God.

What I want to do for the lessons today is to stay right here in the same text, Luke 15. This chapter is about being lost. We have three parables containing four lost items or individuals:

• Lost sheep,

• A lost coin,

• A lost prodigal,

• And a lost elder son.

Church, Luke 15 is not only about being lost, it is about finding and returning the lost to their rightful place. Luke 15 is about God's grace. It is about forgiveness and restoration, subjects that we should all be interested in. So let's see what we can learn:

• Who are the lost?

• How did they become lost?

• And what can we do to return and restore them?

We can apply this lesson in two ways:

• First and foremost to ourselves. How to maintain our own salvation and

• Secondly, how to aid and assist others.

First - The Lost Sheep - Verses 3-7.

This shepherd has 100 sheep and one becomes lost. He leaves the 99 unprotected in the open country and searches for the lost until he finds him. He places the sheep on his shoulders and carries him safely back to the fold.

How do you think this sheep became lost? Its easy! There were no fences in Palestine. The sheep simply nibbles his way out of the fold... He wandered off... Unintentionally.

People are like sheep. We are like sheep. We just wander off... Not intentionally... There is no reason for it. We didn't start out to break the rules or go beyond the limits. We just wandered away from the fold... Away from the church... Away from the tender shepherd's care. The first thing you know, we look up and:

• The flock is gone...

• The shepherd is gone...

• he surroundings are unfamiliar...

We're lost !!

It's no one's fault but our own. We are lost, not by deliberate choice as much as being weak- willed, careless and heedless. Just not paying attention to what we're doing...not thinking. Not one of us intends to drift away from the church...but sometimes we do. You see, Satan works his way into our lives through the natural progression of sin. It goes like this:

• Horror at the thought! I would never do that!

• Rationalization: Once never hurt. After all the Bible says moderation in all things: One drink, one joint, one R-rated movie, one time at a pornographic web site, one time cheating on taxes, one unethical business arrangement, or a thousand other what ifs.... Just one time sins.

• The next step is: I did it and nothing happened. I had an affair, I gossiped, I lied, I cheated in business and the sun still shines... Lightening didn't strike... My wife and kids still love me. Almost unconsciously we drift into practices that war against our spirituality until the sense of God's presence has slipped out of our lives. No wonder the Hebrews writer gives us this warning: We ought to give the more earnest heed to the things we have heard... Lest we let them slip... Lest we drift away from them.

• The final step is no guilt... Total acceptance. We've come to the point that we can involve ourselves in that sin that we once thought we would never do and not feel any guilt whatsoever. Satan has won.

In a discussion of when do we fall from grace... This is it.... When we sin and no longer care... No longer have any guilt.

• Sow a thought and reap an action.

• Sow an action and reap a habit.

• Sow a habit and reap a lifestyle.

• Sow a lifestyle and reap a destiny.

Every day men and women... Teenagers.... Good honest... Church going people become lost sheep. They simply drift away.

Secondly, some become lost like a coin -- Look at verses 8-10.

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."

This lady had ten coins and she loses one. In the Greek the coin is identified as a drachma, a silver piece equivalent to a Roman denarius. In the first century it was one day's wages.

Jesus says this lady had ten coins and one was lost. Oriental ladies of first century Palestine worked hard to accumulate ten coins. Then they would string them together and wear them as a necklace to show their marital status. The law stated that once a lady accumulated all ten coins and strung them no one could take them, not even to pay a debt. However, if you had only 7, 8 or 9, they were just considered as money. When the text says she swept the floor...it literally meant she took up the floor which was probably made of bulrushes.

Jesus is saying that some people are lost because of the carelessness of others. This coin didn't wander off like the sheep. The lady let it lay, she misplaced it, perhaps dropped it on the floor. Some are lost today due to the carelessness of others. This places a tremendous responsibility upon elders, Bible teachers, preachers, parents and each of us as individual Christians.

Church, are there some lost today due to our mistakes? What an awesome, sobering thought.

• Oliver Twist was taught to steal in his childhood, to the point that stealing was second nature, as much as walking.

• Edgar Allen Poe said that he learned to love the taste of good wine at his father's table. He died a drunk.

• Moses tells us that our sins, our mistakes, are realized by our children for the 2nd, 3rd and 4th generations.

• Paul admonishes us parents to bring up our children in the teachings and instructions of the Lord.

• Paul says, Follow me as I follow Christ.

You see, each of us have an influence upon others. Will that influence lead those around us to Jesus? Or will our example lead others astray? Be an example for Christ!! Others are listening!! Others are watching!! Church, we must know we are responsible for one another.

Jesus continued: "There was a man who had two sons. The younger one said to his father, `Father, give me my share of the estate.' So he divided his property between them. "Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no-one gave him anything. When he came to his senses, he said, `How many of my father's hired men have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired men.' So he got up and went to his father. "But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him. "The son said to him, `Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.' "But the father said to his servants, `Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let's have a feast and celebrate. For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.' So they began to celebrate.

You see,

• Some are lost like sheep--they just wander off.

• Some are lost like coins--because of the influence of others.

• But most are lost like the prodigal--out of his own selfish, rebellious attitude.

Do you see it? This young man had a give me attitude. Give me what is mine. Most of our sins have their beginning in our own selfishness. Scripture tells us that the love of money, the love of things, materialism, is the root of all kinds of evil.

James says it is our own lust, our own evil desires, that entices us into sin. And when sin is complete it brings death. This young man's desire to do what he wanted to do led him to disregard his father's feelings, to violate his personal convictions and to live in open rebellion.

You see, some of us are lost, some of us refuse to obey the gospel, some of us are violating our own convictions simply because we want what we want when we want it. We too can become prodigal sons.

Look at verses 25-32.

"Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on. `Your brother has come,' he replied, `and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.' "The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him. But he answered his father, `Look! All these years I've been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!' "`My son,' the father said, `you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.'"

I don't know that we can say that this elder son was lost. In verse 31, the father did say, all that I have belongs to you. But we do know this, the elder son's attitudes were very wrong. He was on a slippery slope! Notice with me some of his sinful attitudes.

First, he had a total disregard for the condition of his brother.

Folk, evangelism, seeking and saving the lost, retrieving prodigals, rescuing stray sheep, how we treat others - especially the lost and those astray - are burning issues with God. God so loved the world, the lost, that he sent his only begotten Son. While we were yet sinners Jesus demonstrated his love for us. The field is white unto harvest. Do we care? Or are we like this elder brother?

A story is told about a beggar, unshaven, ragged clothes, dirty, and with a hat pulled down over his face. He leaned up against the church building Sunday morning asking all that entered for money. No one gave, but tried to ignore him. After the song service, he entered the building, making his way down the center isle toward the pulpit. The audience held their breath.

• Who was this?

• What was he going to do?

• How embarrassing?

As the beggar stepped to the pulpit, he pulled the hat from his face. It was their beloved preacher. He said, I guess you know what I am preaching on this morning.

Do we care? Jesus said, as often as you do it to the least of these you do it to Me. The Hebrew’s writer tills us that some have entertained angels, because they cared for their fellowman. Do we care?

Secondly, the elder brother's problem was jealousy.

Verse 28 says he was angry. He's mad. He wouldn't go to the party. Why? Because daddy never killed a fat calf for him. You see, jealousy causes us to do some really silly and stupid things. The elder son refuses to enjoy life because somebody else was...this is silly...that's stupid. Does this sound like some things we are guilty of? Are we missing some real blessings in the kingdom of God simply because we are jealous of a brother or sister in the church?

The elder brother was unforgiving.

The father ran to the prodigal, fell on him, hugged him, kissed him, forgave him, restored him, rejoiced with him. Note verse 30 - He wouldn't even claim his brother: "This son of yours" squandered your money with prostitutes. Sometimes stray sheep, prodigals, come confessing their faults and we act like this elder brother. Church, seeking and saving the lost means that we are ready and willing to forgive them, accept their repentance, and rejoice with them.

Perhaps his worst sin was his self-righteousness.

Verse 29 has the elder son saying I've kept your law perfectly, I've never disobeyed your orders. Depending on what translation you are reading, this is hard to believe, isn't it? That he lived a sinless, absolutely perfect life? This elder brother refused to see himself as a sinner. He could see his brother's sins... But not his own. I John 1, 8-9 tells us, If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us, but if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.

Finally, he was judgmental.

Judging others is a sin. It only serves to hurt us. Jesus said, Judge not that you b e not judged. For with what judgment you judge others... This is the judgment God will use with us. You see, it was and is true... We can judge a brother in the far country, we can all see when one of us is living in sin, doing wrong, living in rebellion to God. But we are not to be judgmental toward a brother who has come home.

Did you notice what was common to all three of these parables? That which was lost was found:

• Lost sheep returned to the fold;

• A lost coin was found.

• And a lost prodigal returned to the father's house.

Audience, this is why Jesus came:

• To seek and save the lost

• He came to forgive our sins

• He came to restore our sonship, our relationship with God.

Was blind, but now I see.

• If you need to become a child of God, we await your coming in faith and repentance. We will assist you in New Testament baptism; immersion in water for the forgiveness of sins.

• If you have strayed from the Father, as a prodigal, heaven and the church are ready to rejoice at your return.

If this lesson has touched your heart, come home to the Father’s house.