No One Left Behind
Children's sermon
Illustration
Preaching
Sermon
Worship
Object:
There have been several recent news stories about people being lost, toward whom costly rescue efforts have been directed: the miners in Utah; aviator Steve Fossett; and numerous stories about military units in Iraq, operating under the principle that they never leave the field of battle without all their comrades (dead or alive). A question asked during an Immediate Word discussion: "Would we expend the same effort and expense finding a teenage runaway from a poor family?" This question highlights how often our efforts at finding the lost are often limited to members of our own group (whatever that group may be). God's "group," by contrast, is the entire human race. Scott Suskovic uses Luke 15:1-10 to talk about the lost. Stephen McCutchan responds to Scott's article and the illustrations, worship resource, and children's sermon is included.
No One Left Behind
Scott Suskovic
Luke 15:1-10
THE WORLD
Anyone who has served in the military or has seen the movie Behind Enemy Lines, knows of the deep loyalty one soldier has for the other. No one is left behind. No one is forgotten. No one. We will come back for you. We are in this together.
It is with this same commitment that we have seen the workers in Utah spending weeks, dollars, and even lives trying to retrieve a handful of miners trapped underground. It is this same effort that we watched fourteen airplanes and helicopters fly across the Southwest desert in search of one lone aviator/daredevil who is missing. It is with that same determination that when one private named Jessica Lynch had been hurt and was held prisoner that we send in the Marines, the Delta Force, and Special Ops Team to rescue her. No one is expendable. No one is forgotten. No one is left behind.
In Luke's gospel, we see this same determination. The shepherd leaves 99 perfectly healthy sheep to risk it all to find the one lost who might already be dead. The woman turns her house completely upside down to find that one lost coin. Later on in that same chapter, the father waits to welcome and celebrate the return of his prodigal son.
It doesn't make sense. It doesn't make sense to send that many soldiers behind enemy lines to retrieve only one. It doesn't make sense to spend all that money on fuel and personnel to try to locate one millionaire daredevil who chose to fly into the desert. It doesn't make sense to go after that one lost sheep or that one lost coin. It doesn't make sense.
But then again, the gospel rarely does. Thank God for our sake, the gospel rarely does make sense. There is One who promises come what may, hell or high water, sin and death, things present and things to come -- nothing will separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus. No one is expendable. You are not forgotten, for Jesus' sake.
THE WORD
Three years ago on our annual mission trip to Romania, I was asked to preach to this gypsy village that we had adopted. Of course, I knew nothing of their language and they knew even less of mine. So there would be an interpreter. This was a gypsy village of maybe two hundred people with no running water living in shacks kept together with glue and chicken wire. We had been working with this village for a number of years, bringing food and helping with their basic human, physical needs. Now, it was time to share the gospel, and I was to be the mouthpiece.
They explained to me that these gypsies really had no understanding of the Bible, God, Jesus, or the cross. Nothing. It was a blank slate. They may have heard bits and pieces, inferred some teachings but they live an isolated, communal life -- shunned by other Romanians. I would be the first one to reveal scripture, present the gospel, and convert a village. Can you feel the pressure? Do you hear the high expectations?
As I try to figure out not only what to say, but how to say it, an older guy on our mission trip came up and said, "Got some ideas for your talk tomorrow?"
I looked up and said, "I was trying to decide between the cosmological argument for the existence of God, the Christological necessity of the atonement, or the irrefutable claims of scripture using literary and redactions criticism."
"Ummm." He said. "Those all sound good but would you like another suggestion?" I put down my pen and said, "I'd love one."
He said, "You have to touch on an incredibly simple and basic experience that all people have -- no matter their culture, background, or religion. We all have a deep yearning for God. Since being kicked out of the Garden of Eden, we have longed to return to that condition, to restore that relationship in which we know God once again. Religions around the world have tried all sorts of things to get back there from sacrifices to good works to self-denial to worship in order to return to the presence of God. The goal is the same -- I want to know God. I want to see God. I want to walk with God once again. Not everyone can name it. Not everyone realizes it. We all have the same yearning -- to return to God, and Christianity is the only one that provides that path back."
He suggested started with Luke 15. There are three stories in Luke 15 -- the lost coin, the lost sheep, and the lost boy. The coin was lost through no fault of its own. The sheep was lost as a result of simply wandering away. The boy was lost because he chose to run away. For the lost coin, the woman turned the house upside down until it was found and there was a party. For the sheep, the shepherd left the 99 and searched for the lamb until it was found and there was a party. For the boy, the prodigal son, he had to hit rock bottom, come to his senses but when he made that move to return, his father was there to welcome and there was a party.
In the same way, we all get lost. For some, we are like a sheep that simply wanders away, little by little until one day it looks up and wonders where everyone else went. We get out of the habit, our schedules change, we enter into a new chapter in life and suddenly, without hardly noticing it, we are cut off from the flock and from the shepherd, wondering how to return. Some get lost like the coin. There is really no one to blame. I wasn't raised in the church. I never heard about Jesus. There was never an opportunity. The best word to describe my spiritual life is misplaced. Some get lost like the boy. He stormed off, shaking the dust from his sandals, vowing never to return. It is a conscious, deliberate act of rebellion.
We all get lost. These parables ask the question, "How do we get found?" Not one is through our own efforts. We can't build that bridge back to God. It can only be bridged by a God whose yearning for us is even greater than ours is for him. How did you get lost? It makes for a nice personal story but that is not the point of these three parables. The point is not how we get lost. The point is that while we have this yearning for God, God's yearning is even greater for us. People get lost for a variety of reasons but we have a God who is more determined than the Marines going back over enemy lines to find a fallen soldier. We have a God who is more tenacious than a search and rescue operation covering the desert floor in a grid pattern. We have a God who is more thoughtful than a shepherd, more thorough than a woman with coins, more hopeful than a father of a prodigal son. We have a God who has made a promise that nothing will separate us from his love -- not heights nor depths nor angels nor principalities nor our own propensity for getting lost. Nothing will separate us from God in Christ Jesus. God's yearning for us is so great that he would send his own son far behind enemy lines, even into the very lair of Satan himself, to carry you back into the arms of God once again.
CRAFTING THE SERMON
This text lends itself to an honest conversation about the mission of the church. The church was never meant to be a country club where the emphasis is on the care of members. In fact, the church might be the only organization in the world that exists specifically not for its members but for those who are lost -- for those who have not heard and have not believed that Jesus is Lord. The church is first and foremost a search and rescue operation that reaches out beyond its walls to find those that are dearest to God -- the lost.
The reality is these "lost" may be right there with you on Sunday morning. You know that there are those in worship this Sunday who are sitting there on the ground right next to that gypsy women with the bright-colored scarves and skirts who are just as lost. They know that there is a distance. They may even have identified that there is this deep longing to return to the Father's arms. The question is: How do I get there or am I forever forgotten by the one whose face I long to see?
Jesus proclaims to us in these parables that there is a party in heaven with your name on it. Do not lose heart. You are not forgotten. Hear his voice. Sit in his quiet presence. Incline your ear and heart to him. Seek the Lord while he may be found, and you will come to discover it is not you who have found God but God who has, from the foundations of the earth, already found you and provided his son as your ticket back into his arms. There's a party in heaven with your name on it.
ANOTHER VIEW
Stephen McCutchan
Scott has opened up for us the theme of the foolishness of God in being willing to risk so much to save one who is lost. It reminds me of the ancient saying, "How odd of God to choose the Jews," to which Robert McAfee Brown added, "Odder all the while that God would then choose the Gentile." The problem that both Jew and Gentile have had within their respective faith communities is to avoid the seductive conclusion that by God's choice we are better than the rest.
Paul reminds us in 1 Corinthians 1:26-29: "Consider your own call, brothers and sisters: not many of you were wise by human standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise... so that no one might boast in the presence of God." Yet, somehow once we are chosen, we do think that we are better than those who were not chosen. Therefore, when the shepherd leaves the 99 to go and search out the one who is lost, we want to complain. "Heh!" we say. "What about us. We are the ones that are important in the church and we deserve your attention."
We need to hear the words of Paul in 1 Timothy 1:12: "I am grateful to Christ Jesus our Lord, who has strengthened me, because he judged me faithful and appointed me to his service, even though I was formerly a blasphemer, a persecutor, and a man of violence." The clear and undeniable fact is that the church is made up of liars, thieves, adulterers, and hypocrites. Our behavior toward each other is often full of pettiness and small-mindedness. Our attitude toward others is often self-righteous and intolerant. In a corporate sense, we could join with Paul in saying that we are "blasphemers, persecutors, and people of violence."
Usually, however, when this is said of us, we grow defensive and want to point out that we are no worse, and often better, than most people. Yet, it is only as we lose our defensiveness that we can grasp the truth of the gospel and recognize with Paul that our very weaknesses are the basis of our most powerful witness. It is precisely in us with all of our weaknesses that "Jesus Christ might display the utmost patience."
The ability of Christ to effect salvation through people and churches like us is demonstration that the power of God is made perfect in our weakness. That God approves us, like Paul, for God's service is testimony to God's continuing and amazing love. This is not a reason for us to continue in our sins, but it is reason for us not to be defensive in confessing them. To paraphrase Paul, if God can choose scoundrels like us for service to God's cause, then this is an example of hope for the world. When we can freely confess to the struggle that we have had in living up to God's love and how God is working through us despite our weaknesses, others in the world can see hope for themselves as well.
I recently shared in the twentieth anniversary of a Korean Presbyterian church. It was a vital and prosperous church but they approached their context with a grateful humility. I was struck by their emphasis of gratitude to the missionaries who had brought the gospel to them. They repeatedly said, "Because we have been given so much, we must in turn be generous in our giving to others." It is that type of grateful humility that might encourage a flock of 99 to say to the shepherd, "Yes, go and seek the one who is lost."
ILLUSTRATIONS
There's good news in the story Jesus tells about the shepherd who counts his sheep and finds that one is missing. The good news is: If you or I are that lost sheep, then Jesus is looking for us.
We're that important to him.
The same with the lost coin. Jesus is sweeping the entire house, searching for us. Just as he stopped Paul on the road to Damascus -- Paul, who once was lost but now was found.
The question is: Can we get so lost that Jesus can't find us? The good news is: Never!
* * *
It gives me hope that Jesus can make something good out of a person as cruel, as violent, as Paul was. Jesus chose this man who'd been going from city to city, arresting Christians and taking them in chains back to Jerusalem where they'd face imprisonment and punishment for their faith. Paul later called himself "the chief of sinners."
The Lord seems to like to work this way, taking someone who's done far worse things than most of us will even think of doing, yet helping them grow into a strong person of faith who can do much for God's kingdom.
Think of Moses, who killed an Egyptian overseer. David, who had Bathsheba's husband moved up into the frontline of the battle so he could take Bathsheba. Matthew, a greedy tax collector, stealing from whomever he could.
If the Lord can help people like this become strong people of faith, become strong workers in God's kingdom, then there's hope for me.
* * *
Jesus told parables, like those in our gospel lesson today, to help us understand what's really important in this life, to help us see the truth that can help us follow him.
Someone wrote, "If Jesus and the ancient philosopher Plato should return to this earth for just one hour and were scheduled to lecture on the same college campus at the same time, which one would I go to hear?"
After wrestling with the question for a while he concluded that it was really no question at all, for who would go to hear even so great a one as Plato talk on the Truth when he might listen to the One who himself was the Truth?
-- Harold A. Bosley, A Firm Faith for Today
* * *
"In the early dry dark of an October's Saturday evening, the neighborhood children are playing hide-and-seek. Did you ever have a kid in your neighborhood who always hid so good, nobody could find him? We did. After a while we would give up on him and go off, leaving him to rot wherever he was. Sooner or later he would show up, all mad because we didn't keep looking for him. We would get mad back because he wasn't playing the game the way it was supposed to be played. There's hiding and there's finding, we'd say. He'd say it was hide-and-seek, not hide-and-give-UP... he's probably still hidden somewhere, for all I know.
As I write this, the neighborhood game goes on, and there is a kid under a pile of leaves in the yard just under my window. He has been there a long time now, and everybody else is found and they are about to give up on him over at the base. I considered going out to the base and telling them where he was hiding. I thought about setting the leaves on fire to drive him out. Finally, I yelled, 'GET FOUND, KID!' out the window."
-- Robert Fulghum, All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten: Uncommon Thoughts on Common Things (Villard, 1988)
"Get found, kid!" is what Jesus is saying to each of the scribes and Pharisees, as he tells them these parables. Maybe they don't need to be found in the same sense as a person does who has wandered long and far from the ways of God, but they do still need to be found. They do still need that experience of repentance and forgiveness. We all do.
What the scribes and Pharisees have done that makes them equally lost is that they have too easily written off those others who are hiding. The scribes and Pharisees are like those who give up too easily and go home, leaving their fellow players shivering under their leaf piles. They've written them off as acceptable losses, then gone back home to tend to their own business.
***
There's one thing you'll find in most public organizations: a "Lost and Found." Whether it's in a shoebox or whether it fills an entire room, the Lost and Found contains a curious assortment of flotsam and jetsam. From trinkets to treasures, they're all there. Every last article was valued by someone. Yet each one, through some mysterious circumstance, was left behind.
What's the story behind the pair of eyeglasses... the single earring or sneaker without its mate... the halfway-thumbed-through paperback novel? What about the locket containing the photo of some unknown person?
Each item was lost, and each item was also found -- by some disinterested party who dutifully carried it to the proper authorities. We say the objects in the box have been "found" -- but they haven't really been found. The one person who knows their true value has not claimed them.
There are times when we may feel like inmates of the Lost and Found. Times of great stress or transition are like that -- mourning, moving, mid-life crisis. There are seasons in our lives when we desire nothing more than for someone to find us, to talk with us, and to share our heart's pain.
***
The advice columnist Ann Landers has spent a lifetime answering letters from lonely, hurting people. She once told an interviewer how her clientele comes from every walk of life and every income level. Common to them all is what she calls "the central tragedy of our society -- the disconnectedness, the insecurity, the fear that bedevils, cripples, and paralyzes so many of us. I have learned that financial success, academic achievement, and social or political status open no doors to peace of mind or inner security. We are all wanderers, like sheep, on this planet."
* * *
William Barclay was a great theologian, writer, and broadcaster. He was quite deaf, and often couldn't hear comments, particularly when the speaker was too far away for Barclay to lip-read the words.
Once, when he was serving a church in Glasgow, a man came up to Barclay as he was leaving the church. "Dr. Barclay," said the man, "I want to thank you for saving my life."
Scratching his head, and realizing he could not remember the man, Barclay said, "I'm sorry. I don't remember."
"About a year ago, one evening, at dusk, I was sitting on the steps of the church, feeling terribly dejected about my life. I called to you as you walked out of the church, 'Life is terrible. I'm going to throw myself into the river and drown myself.' You waved to me very cheerily and said, 'Well, the best of luck to you.'
"That comment brought me back to reality, and today, life is good."
The lost get found in different ways.
* * *
"The rhetoric from the pulpit urges engagement with the world and defines one's 'real' ministry as job, community, life, family, and so on, all of which takes place outside the church. Yet the bulletin, the parish organization, the pastor, and staff urge and reward engagement with parish activities. Ministry outside the church is rarely recognized and never rewarded.
Ministry inside is recognized and rewarded. The pastoral calling that is done is generally done in homes, not in the workplace. Assignments to responsibilities in the congregation are generally made according to the congregation's organizational needs, not the expertise of the lay person. What is said at church undergirds the [new understanding of the church]. What is done tends to reflect assumptions left over from the [old understanding].
-- Loren B. Mead, "The Once and Future Church"
* * *
The story is told of the teenage boy who got into trouble one Saturday night with a friend. Living in the sort of small town where every one knows each other, the cop took the young man down to the station, and had him call his father.
"Dad," the young man began, when his father interrupted him. "Son, where are you?"
"Look, Dad, I can explain, we..."
"Son, tell me where you are at."
"Dad, we didn't mean to cause any trouble..."
"Son, I don't care what you have done. Just tell me where you are. I'll come to bring you home."
The lost get found in different ways.
WORSHIP RESOURCE
Call to Worship
Leader: The foolish say,
"there is no God."
People: We come, trusting in Jesus,
the face, the voice, the presence
of the God who loves us.
Leader: The scoffers of our age ask,
"why do you seek after God?"
People: We come, in this time,
because God's grace has
spilled over in our lives.
Leader: The hopeless around us think,
"no one cares about me."
People: We come, in this time, to this place,
because Jesus has found us
and brought us home.
Prayer of the Day
When we are short-sighted
and think we can't see you,
you show us a mother
cradling her sick child.
When we are anxious,
certain you don't care about us,
you are confident enough
to trust us with your grace.
When we are cynical,
sure that nothing matters,
you are optimistic enough
to become one of us.
God, you are our Hope.
You sweep the streets
of the world,
to uncover the people
we consider to be trash.
You shine your grace
into sin's shadows
to find us when
we have lost our way.
You would leave us
to go find the sister
we left behind.
Jesus, you are our Joy.
When we walk
the dusty desert of desolation,
you refresh us
with showers of grace.
When our lives
lie in ruined rubble,
you come and build
a foundation for us
out of love and faith.
Spirit, you are our Life.
God in Community, Holy in One,
our Hope, our Joy, our Life,
hear us as we pray as Jesus teaches,
Our Father...
Call to Reconciliation
Which of us has not hurt someone this week?
Which of us has not spoken (or thought) ill
of a sister or brother in Christ? Which of us
has failed to do good when given the chance?
Which of us -- all of us and each of us! But
Christ came to save people just like us, so I
invite you to join me as we offer our prayers
to God, saying,
Unison Prayer of Confession
Although we believe we are experts at
faithfulness, Holy God, we must confess we
are unskilled workers at doing good. Too
often, we turn a deaf ear to the cries of
people we have judged to be fools. We
easily scoff at those we believe have nothing
to teach us or share with us.
How foolish, Searching God, how foolish
we are! Forgive us, and restore us to your
goodness. Then, send us forth to search for
all who sit in the shadowed corners of our
world, yearning for someone to come and
find them, even as Jesus Christ, our Lord
and Savior, came to find us.
(Silence is observed)
Assurance of Pardon
Leader: Our actions sometimes show we do not
know God. Our words and lives show
we do not understand God's hopes for us.
But with utmost patience, God sets aside
our foolishness, and fills us with mercy.
People: Mingled with faith and love, grace is poured
into our sin-parched souls, giving us new
life, restoring us as God's children. Thanks
be to God. Amen.
CHILDREN'S SERMON
God looks for you
Object: none
Luke 15:1-10
In today's scripture reading, Jesus tells us two short stories. In the first, a man has 100 sheep. One day, one of the sheep gets lost. The man still has 99 sheep, but he really misses the one that's gone. So, he leaves the 99 that he has to go in search of the one that's lost. When he finds his sheep, he calls all his friends to come and celebrate with him.
In the second story, a woman has ten silver coins. When one is misplaced, she turns the house upside down looking for it. She looks everywhere. When she finally finds it, she does the same thing the man did. She calls all her friends and neighbors to come and celebrate with her.
Now what was the big deal about the missing sheep and the lost coin? What was Jesus trying to teach by telling these stories? At first it may seem like no big deal that the man lost a sheep. He still had 99, didn't he? That's still a lot. What about the woman? Nine silver coins is still a lot. Back then, silver coins were worth a lot of money. Sure she lost one, but she still had nine left.
Here's what Jesus was trying to teach: We are like the lost sheep and the lost coin. Each of us is so special to God that nothing could ever replace us. If one of us gets lost in some way, God will not stop searching until he finds us again and brings us safely back home to him. Like in the stories, God loves us so much that he wants to have a big party when we finally come home! You and I are just like the sheep and the coin. We are precious to God, and he is really sad when we aren't with him.
There are many reasons we might get separated from God. Maybe we don't talk to him, so we don't really know him. Maybe we've gotten into some kind of trouble and we aren't close to him anymore. Or, like the sheep, maybe we've just wandered away. What we need to know and remember is that God wants to be near us. He loves us and wants to care for us.
Prayer: God, you love us so much. Thank you that each of us is special and precious to you. Help us stay with you always. Amen.
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
The Immediate Word, September 16, 2007, issue.
Copyright 2007 by CSS Publishing Company, Inc., Lima, Ohio.
All rights reserved. Subscribers to The Immediate Word service may print and use this material as it was intended in sermons and in worship and classroom settings only. No additional permission is required from the publisher for such use by subscribers only. Inquiries should be addressed to permissions@csspub.com or to Permissions, CSS Publishing Company, Inc., 517 South Main Street, Lima, Ohio 45804.
No One Left Behind
Scott Suskovic
Luke 15:1-10
THE WORLD
Anyone who has served in the military or has seen the movie Behind Enemy Lines, knows of the deep loyalty one soldier has for the other. No one is left behind. No one is forgotten. No one. We will come back for you. We are in this together.
It is with this same commitment that we have seen the workers in Utah spending weeks, dollars, and even lives trying to retrieve a handful of miners trapped underground. It is this same effort that we watched fourteen airplanes and helicopters fly across the Southwest desert in search of one lone aviator/daredevil who is missing. It is with that same determination that when one private named Jessica Lynch had been hurt and was held prisoner that we send in the Marines, the Delta Force, and Special Ops Team to rescue her. No one is expendable. No one is forgotten. No one is left behind.
In Luke's gospel, we see this same determination. The shepherd leaves 99 perfectly healthy sheep to risk it all to find the one lost who might already be dead. The woman turns her house completely upside down to find that one lost coin. Later on in that same chapter, the father waits to welcome and celebrate the return of his prodigal son.
It doesn't make sense. It doesn't make sense to send that many soldiers behind enemy lines to retrieve only one. It doesn't make sense to spend all that money on fuel and personnel to try to locate one millionaire daredevil who chose to fly into the desert. It doesn't make sense to go after that one lost sheep or that one lost coin. It doesn't make sense.
But then again, the gospel rarely does. Thank God for our sake, the gospel rarely does make sense. There is One who promises come what may, hell or high water, sin and death, things present and things to come -- nothing will separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus. No one is expendable. You are not forgotten, for Jesus' sake.
THE WORD
Three years ago on our annual mission trip to Romania, I was asked to preach to this gypsy village that we had adopted. Of course, I knew nothing of their language and they knew even less of mine. So there would be an interpreter. This was a gypsy village of maybe two hundred people with no running water living in shacks kept together with glue and chicken wire. We had been working with this village for a number of years, bringing food and helping with their basic human, physical needs. Now, it was time to share the gospel, and I was to be the mouthpiece.
They explained to me that these gypsies really had no understanding of the Bible, God, Jesus, or the cross. Nothing. It was a blank slate. They may have heard bits and pieces, inferred some teachings but they live an isolated, communal life -- shunned by other Romanians. I would be the first one to reveal scripture, present the gospel, and convert a village. Can you feel the pressure? Do you hear the high expectations?
As I try to figure out not only what to say, but how to say it, an older guy on our mission trip came up and said, "Got some ideas for your talk tomorrow?"
I looked up and said, "I was trying to decide between the cosmological argument for the existence of God, the Christological necessity of the atonement, or the irrefutable claims of scripture using literary and redactions criticism."
"Ummm." He said. "Those all sound good but would you like another suggestion?" I put down my pen and said, "I'd love one."
He said, "You have to touch on an incredibly simple and basic experience that all people have -- no matter their culture, background, or religion. We all have a deep yearning for God. Since being kicked out of the Garden of Eden, we have longed to return to that condition, to restore that relationship in which we know God once again. Religions around the world have tried all sorts of things to get back there from sacrifices to good works to self-denial to worship in order to return to the presence of God. The goal is the same -- I want to know God. I want to see God. I want to walk with God once again. Not everyone can name it. Not everyone realizes it. We all have the same yearning -- to return to God, and Christianity is the only one that provides that path back."
He suggested started with Luke 15. There are three stories in Luke 15 -- the lost coin, the lost sheep, and the lost boy. The coin was lost through no fault of its own. The sheep was lost as a result of simply wandering away. The boy was lost because he chose to run away. For the lost coin, the woman turned the house upside down until it was found and there was a party. For the sheep, the shepherd left the 99 and searched for the lamb until it was found and there was a party. For the boy, the prodigal son, he had to hit rock bottom, come to his senses but when he made that move to return, his father was there to welcome and there was a party.
In the same way, we all get lost. For some, we are like a sheep that simply wanders away, little by little until one day it looks up and wonders where everyone else went. We get out of the habit, our schedules change, we enter into a new chapter in life and suddenly, without hardly noticing it, we are cut off from the flock and from the shepherd, wondering how to return. Some get lost like the coin. There is really no one to blame. I wasn't raised in the church. I never heard about Jesus. There was never an opportunity. The best word to describe my spiritual life is misplaced. Some get lost like the boy. He stormed off, shaking the dust from his sandals, vowing never to return. It is a conscious, deliberate act of rebellion.
We all get lost. These parables ask the question, "How do we get found?" Not one is through our own efforts. We can't build that bridge back to God. It can only be bridged by a God whose yearning for us is even greater than ours is for him. How did you get lost? It makes for a nice personal story but that is not the point of these three parables. The point is not how we get lost. The point is that while we have this yearning for God, God's yearning is even greater for us. People get lost for a variety of reasons but we have a God who is more determined than the Marines going back over enemy lines to find a fallen soldier. We have a God who is more tenacious than a search and rescue operation covering the desert floor in a grid pattern. We have a God who is more thoughtful than a shepherd, more thorough than a woman with coins, more hopeful than a father of a prodigal son. We have a God who has made a promise that nothing will separate us from his love -- not heights nor depths nor angels nor principalities nor our own propensity for getting lost. Nothing will separate us from God in Christ Jesus. God's yearning for us is so great that he would send his own son far behind enemy lines, even into the very lair of Satan himself, to carry you back into the arms of God once again.
CRAFTING THE SERMON
This text lends itself to an honest conversation about the mission of the church. The church was never meant to be a country club where the emphasis is on the care of members. In fact, the church might be the only organization in the world that exists specifically not for its members but for those who are lost -- for those who have not heard and have not believed that Jesus is Lord. The church is first and foremost a search and rescue operation that reaches out beyond its walls to find those that are dearest to God -- the lost.
The reality is these "lost" may be right there with you on Sunday morning. You know that there are those in worship this Sunday who are sitting there on the ground right next to that gypsy women with the bright-colored scarves and skirts who are just as lost. They know that there is a distance. They may even have identified that there is this deep longing to return to the Father's arms. The question is: How do I get there or am I forever forgotten by the one whose face I long to see?
Jesus proclaims to us in these parables that there is a party in heaven with your name on it. Do not lose heart. You are not forgotten. Hear his voice. Sit in his quiet presence. Incline your ear and heart to him. Seek the Lord while he may be found, and you will come to discover it is not you who have found God but God who has, from the foundations of the earth, already found you and provided his son as your ticket back into his arms. There's a party in heaven with your name on it.
ANOTHER VIEW
Stephen McCutchan
Scott has opened up for us the theme of the foolishness of God in being willing to risk so much to save one who is lost. It reminds me of the ancient saying, "How odd of God to choose the Jews," to which Robert McAfee Brown added, "Odder all the while that God would then choose the Gentile." The problem that both Jew and Gentile have had within their respective faith communities is to avoid the seductive conclusion that by God's choice we are better than the rest.
Paul reminds us in 1 Corinthians 1:26-29: "Consider your own call, brothers and sisters: not many of you were wise by human standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise... so that no one might boast in the presence of God." Yet, somehow once we are chosen, we do think that we are better than those who were not chosen. Therefore, when the shepherd leaves the 99 to go and search out the one who is lost, we want to complain. "Heh!" we say. "What about us. We are the ones that are important in the church and we deserve your attention."
We need to hear the words of Paul in 1 Timothy 1:12: "I am grateful to Christ Jesus our Lord, who has strengthened me, because he judged me faithful and appointed me to his service, even though I was formerly a blasphemer, a persecutor, and a man of violence." The clear and undeniable fact is that the church is made up of liars, thieves, adulterers, and hypocrites. Our behavior toward each other is often full of pettiness and small-mindedness. Our attitude toward others is often self-righteous and intolerant. In a corporate sense, we could join with Paul in saying that we are "blasphemers, persecutors, and people of violence."
Usually, however, when this is said of us, we grow defensive and want to point out that we are no worse, and often better, than most people. Yet, it is only as we lose our defensiveness that we can grasp the truth of the gospel and recognize with Paul that our very weaknesses are the basis of our most powerful witness. It is precisely in us with all of our weaknesses that "Jesus Christ might display the utmost patience."
The ability of Christ to effect salvation through people and churches like us is demonstration that the power of God is made perfect in our weakness. That God approves us, like Paul, for God's service is testimony to God's continuing and amazing love. This is not a reason for us to continue in our sins, but it is reason for us not to be defensive in confessing them. To paraphrase Paul, if God can choose scoundrels like us for service to God's cause, then this is an example of hope for the world. When we can freely confess to the struggle that we have had in living up to God's love and how God is working through us despite our weaknesses, others in the world can see hope for themselves as well.
I recently shared in the twentieth anniversary of a Korean Presbyterian church. It was a vital and prosperous church but they approached their context with a grateful humility. I was struck by their emphasis of gratitude to the missionaries who had brought the gospel to them. They repeatedly said, "Because we have been given so much, we must in turn be generous in our giving to others." It is that type of grateful humility that might encourage a flock of 99 to say to the shepherd, "Yes, go and seek the one who is lost."
ILLUSTRATIONS
There's good news in the story Jesus tells about the shepherd who counts his sheep and finds that one is missing. The good news is: If you or I are that lost sheep, then Jesus is looking for us.
We're that important to him.
The same with the lost coin. Jesus is sweeping the entire house, searching for us. Just as he stopped Paul on the road to Damascus -- Paul, who once was lost but now was found.
The question is: Can we get so lost that Jesus can't find us? The good news is: Never!
* * *
It gives me hope that Jesus can make something good out of a person as cruel, as violent, as Paul was. Jesus chose this man who'd been going from city to city, arresting Christians and taking them in chains back to Jerusalem where they'd face imprisonment and punishment for their faith. Paul later called himself "the chief of sinners."
The Lord seems to like to work this way, taking someone who's done far worse things than most of us will even think of doing, yet helping them grow into a strong person of faith who can do much for God's kingdom.
Think of Moses, who killed an Egyptian overseer. David, who had Bathsheba's husband moved up into the frontline of the battle so he could take Bathsheba. Matthew, a greedy tax collector, stealing from whomever he could.
If the Lord can help people like this become strong people of faith, become strong workers in God's kingdom, then there's hope for me.
* * *
Jesus told parables, like those in our gospel lesson today, to help us understand what's really important in this life, to help us see the truth that can help us follow him.
Someone wrote, "If Jesus and the ancient philosopher Plato should return to this earth for just one hour and were scheduled to lecture on the same college campus at the same time, which one would I go to hear?"
After wrestling with the question for a while he concluded that it was really no question at all, for who would go to hear even so great a one as Plato talk on the Truth when he might listen to the One who himself was the Truth?
-- Harold A. Bosley, A Firm Faith for Today
* * *
"In the early dry dark of an October's Saturday evening, the neighborhood children are playing hide-and-seek. Did you ever have a kid in your neighborhood who always hid so good, nobody could find him? We did. After a while we would give up on him and go off, leaving him to rot wherever he was. Sooner or later he would show up, all mad because we didn't keep looking for him. We would get mad back because he wasn't playing the game the way it was supposed to be played. There's hiding and there's finding, we'd say. He'd say it was hide-and-seek, not hide-and-give-UP... he's probably still hidden somewhere, for all I know.
As I write this, the neighborhood game goes on, and there is a kid under a pile of leaves in the yard just under my window. He has been there a long time now, and everybody else is found and they are about to give up on him over at the base. I considered going out to the base and telling them where he was hiding. I thought about setting the leaves on fire to drive him out. Finally, I yelled, 'GET FOUND, KID!' out the window."
-- Robert Fulghum, All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten: Uncommon Thoughts on Common Things (Villard, 1988)
"Get found, kid!" is what Jesus is saying to each of the scribes and Pharisees, as he tells them these parables. Maybe they don't need to be found in the same sense as a person does who has wandered long and far from the ways of God, but they do still need to be found. They do still need that experience of repentance and forgiveness. We all do.
What the scribes and Pharisees have done that makes them equally lost is that they have too easily written off those others who are hiding. The scribes and Pharisees are like those who give up too easily and go home, leaving their fellow players shivering under their leaf piles. They've written them off as acceptable losses, then gone back home to tend to their own business.
***
There's one thing you'll find in most public organizations: a "Lost and Found." Whether it's in a shoebox or whether it fills an entire room, the Lost and Found contains a curious assortment of flotsam and jetsam. From trinkets to treasures, they're all there. Every last article was valued by someone. Yet each one, through some mysterious circumstance, was left behind.
What's the story behind the pair of eyeglasses... the single earring or sneaker without its mate... the halfway-thumbed-through paperback novel? What about the locket containing the photo of some unknown person?
Each item was lost, and each item was also found -- by some disinterested party who dutifully carried it to the proper authorities. We say the objects in the box have been "found" -- but they haven't really been found. The one person who knows their true value has not claimed them.
There are times when we may feel like inmates of the Lost and Found. Times of great stress or transition are like that -- mourning, moving, mid-life crisis. There are seasons in our lives when we desire nothing more than for someone to find us, to talk with us, and to share our heart's pain.
***
The advice columnist Ann Landers has spent a lifetime answering letters from lonely, hurting people. She once told an interviewer how her clientele comes from every walk of life and every income level. Common to them all is what she calls "the central tragedy of our society -- the disconnectedness, the insecurity, the fear that bedevils, cripples, and paralyzes so many of us. I have learned that financial success, academic achievement, and social or political status open no doors to peace of mind or inner security. We are all wanderers, like sheep, on this planet."
* * *
William Barclay was a great theologian, writer, and broadcaster. He was quite deaf, and often couldn't hear comments, particularly when the speaker was too far away for Barclay to lip-read the words.
Once, when he was serving a church in Glasgow, a man came up to Barclay as he was leaving the church. "Dr. Barclay," said the man, "I want to thank you for saving my life."
Scratching his head, and realizing he could not remember the man, Barclay said, "I'm sorry. I don't remember."
"About a year ago, one evening, at dusk, I was sitting on the steps of the church, feeling terribly dejected about my life. I called to you as you walked out of the church, 'Life is terrible. I'm going to throw myself into the river and drown myself.' You waved to me very cheerily and said, 'Well, the best of luck to you.'
"That comment brought me back to reality, and today, life is good."
The lost get found in different ways.
* * *
"The rhetoric from the pulpit urges engagement with the world and defines one's 'real' ministry as job, community, life, family, and so on, all of which takes place outside the church. Yet the bulletin, the parish organization, the pastor, and staff urge and reward engagement with parish activities. Ministry outside the church is rarely recognized and never rewarded.
Ministry inside is recognized and rewarded. The pastoral calling that is done is generally done in homes, not in the workplace. Assignments to responsibilities in the congregation are generally made according to the congregation's organizational needs, not the expertise of the lay person. What is said at church undergirds the [new understanding of the church]. What is done tends to reflect assumptions left over from the [old understanding].
-- Loren B. Mead, "The Once and Future Church"
* * *
The story is told of the teenage boy who got into trouble one Saturday night with a friend. Living in the sort of small town where every one knows each other, the cop took the young man down to the station, and had him call his father.
"Dad," the young man began, when his father interrupted him. "Son, where are you?"
"Look, Dad, I can explain, we..."
"Son, tell me where you are at."
"Dad, we didn't mean to cause any trouble..."
"Son, I don't care what you have done. Just tell me where you are. I'll come to bring you home."
The lost get found in different ways.
WORSHIP RESOURCE
Call to Worship
Leader: The foolish say,
"there is no God."
People: We come, trusting in Jesus,
the face, the voice, the presence
of the God who loves us.
Leader: The scoffers of our age ask,
"why do you seek after God?"
People: We come, in this time,
because God's grace has
spilled over in our lives.
Leader: The hopeless around us think,
"no one cares about me."
People: We come, in this time, to this place,
because Jesus has found us
and brought us home.
Prayer of the Day
When we are short-sighted
and think we can't see you,
you show us a mother
cradling her sick child.
When we are anxious,
certain you don't care about us,
you are confident enough
to trust us with your grace.
When we are cynical,
sure that nothing matters,
you are optimistic enough
to become one of us.
God, you are our Hope.
You sweep the streets
of the world,
to uncover the people
we consider to be trash.
You shine your grace
into sin's shadows
to find us when
we have lost our way.
You would leave us
to go find the sister
we left behind.
Jesus, you are our Joy.
When we walk
the dusty desert of desolation,
you refresh us
with showers of grace.
When our lives
lie in ruined rubble,
you come and build
a foundation for us
out of love and faith.
Spirit, you are our Life.
God in Community, Holy in One,
our Hope, our Joy, our Life,
hear us as we pray as Jesus teaches,
Our Father...
Call to Reconciliation
Which of us has not hurt someone this week?
Which of us has not spoken (or thought) ill
of a sister or brother in Christ? Which of us
has failed to do good when given the chance?
Which of us -- all of us and each of us! But
Christ came to save people just like us, so I
invite you to join me as we offer our prayers
to God, saying,
Unison Prayer of Confession
Although we believe we are experts at
faithfulness, Holy God, we must confess we
are unskilled workers at doing good. Too
often, we turn a deaf ear to the cries of
people we have judged to be fools. We
easily scoff at those we believe have nothing
to teach us or share with us.
How foolish, Searching God, how foolish
we are! Forgive us, and restore us to your
goodness. Then, send us forth to search for
all who sit in the shadowed corners of our
world, yearning for someone to come and
find them, even as Jesus Christ, our Lord
and Savior, came to find us.
(Silence is observed)
Assurance of Pardon
Leader: Our actions sometimes show we do not
know God. Our words and lives show
we do not understand God's hopes for us.
But with utmost patience, God sets aside
our foolishness, and fills us with mercy.
People: Mingled with faith and love, grace is poured
into our sin-parched souls, giving us new
life, restoring us as God's children. Thanks
be to God. Amen.
CHILDREN'S SERMON
God looks for you
Object: none
Luke 15:1-10
In today's scripture reading, Jesus tells us two short stories. In the first, a man has 100 sheep. One day, one of the sheep gets lost. The man still has 99 sheep, but he really misses the one that's gone. So, he leaves the 99 that he has to go in search of the one that's lost. When he finds his sheep, he calls all his friends to come and celebrate with him.
In the second story, a woman has ten silver coins. When one is misplaced, she turns the house upside down looking for it. She looks everywhere. When she finally finds it, she does the same thing the man did. She calls all her friends and neighbors to come and celebrate with her.
Now what was the big deal about the missing sheep and the lost coin? What was Jesus trying to teach by telling these stories? At first it may seem like no big deal that the man lost a sheep. He still had 99, didn't he? That's still a lot. What about the woman? Nine silver coins is still a lot. Back then, silver coins were worth a lot of money. Sure she lost one, but she still had nine left.
Here's what Jesus was trying to teach: We are like the lost sheep and the lost coin. Each of us is so special to God that nothing could ever replace us. If one of us gets lost in some way, God will not stop searching until he finds us again and brings us safely back home to him. Like in the stories, God loves us so much that he wants to have a big party when we finally come home! You and I are just like the sheep and the coin. We are precious to God, and he is really sad when we aren't with him.
There are many reasons we might get separated from God. Maybe we don't talk to him, so we don't really know him. Maybe we've gotten into some kind of trouble and we aren't close to him anymore. Or, like the sheep, maybe we've just wandered away. What we need to know and remember is that God wants to be near us. He loves us and wants to care for us.
Prayer: God, you love us so much. Thank you that each of us is special and precious to you. Help us stay with you always. Amen.
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
The Immediate Word, September 16, 2007, issue.
Copyright 2007 by CSS Publishing Company, Inc., Lima, Ohio.
All rights reserved. Subscribers to The Immediate Word service may print and use this material as it was intended in sermons and in worship and classroom settings only. No additional permission is required from the publisher for such use by subscribers only. Inquiries should be addressed to permissions@csspub.com or to Permissions, CSS Publishing Company, Inc., 517 South Main Street, Lima, Ohio 45804.
