September 12
2010 Reading: Luke 15.1-10
Theme: His
grace, and the repentance that follows...........
In
August 1867, Capt. James Powell and a troop of 31 soldiers from the 9th Infantry arrived in
In the face of threat drawing the waggons
round into a circle for protection, with everybody inside.
That’s
a common human reaction to threats, to draw the
waggons round, to put up the barriers, protect everybody inside. It’s certainly
happened often in the Church down through history..... when
persecution of the Church started in
And
that’s certainl what the Pharisees were doing in the time of Jesus.
In the face of threat drawing the waggons
round into a circle for protection, with themselves inside. What was the threat
that faced them ? well,these
well meaning, strictly religious men felt threatened by the great mass of
ordinary people who had no concern for God’s law, or religion. So, they drew
away from the great mass of ordinary people, drew the waggons into a circle put
up barriers. The Pharisees called the great mass of ordinary people, the People of the Land; and put up a
complete barrier between themselves and the People of
the Land. Here are some of the laws of the Pharisees: ”
If a man is one of the People of the Land, do not trust him with money, do not
take his word for anything, do not trust him with a secret,
do not put him in charge of funds, do not go with him on a journey.” Do not be the guest of such a man, do not have him round for a meal.
The aim was to draw the waggons round and in an
effort to be righteous and holy, protect themselves from any contact with the
people of the land, who were not religious, they
regarded them as sinners, outcasts.
But,
now, look at Jesus. Here, in Luke’s gospel chapter 15,
is Jesus sitting with the outcasts and the
sinners !
And for this reason there is perhaps no
chapter of Luke’s gospel so well known and loved as the fifteenth chapter of Luke’s gospel, with the story of
the lost sheep and the lost coin. Here the great saints have said, we can find,
in short span, the whole gospel.........
The
Pharisees were shocked that Jesus
associated with these men and women, the people of the land. Shocked to
the core at the way in which Jesus welcomed such people and ate with them. This
man, the Pharisees said, welcomes sinners and eats with them
!
here is Jesus’ reply:
The story of
the lost sheep and the lost coin.
First, the lost sheep: Professor
William Barclay tells us: The shepherds in
Judaea had a hard and dangerous
task. Pasture was scarce. The pasture land was up on a narrow central plateau only a few miles wide, with steep wild cliffs, which ran down
to the edge of the desert. George Adam Smith once wrote this about the shepherd of those days: “You meet him, a far-sighted, weather-beaten, leaning
on his staff and looking out over his scattered sheep, this mans sleeps little at night in
the care of the flock, and he knows every single one of the flock. Meeting him,
you can understand why the shepherd was such an important figure in Israel: they called their king a
shepherd, who would look after them and protect them, they called the Lord
their shepherd for his guidance and love for them.”
If a sheep was lost the shepherd was duty bound to find
it, or find what had happened to it. An expert at tracking he could follow the lost sheep’s footprints for miles across the hills.
Many of the
flocks belonging to villages,
with two or three shepherds in charge. Sometimes two of the shepherds would arrive back and bring news that one shepherd was still out on the mountain side searching for a sheep which was lost. The whole village would wait, and when, in the distance, they saw the shepherd striding down the hillside with the lost sheep across his shoulders, there would be a shout of joy, a
moment of thanksgiving. The lost sheep found.
The lost coin
Again Professor
William Barclay tells us:
The lost coin in this story of Jesus was a silver coin worth about 5 pence. It would not be difficult
to lose a coin in an ordinary house of
the time and it might take a long
time to find it The houses were very dark, there wasn’t much light. The
floor was beaten earth covered with dried reeds. So, you can imagine looking for a coin on a floor like that
was very much like looking for a needle in a haystack. The woman
who has lost the coin sweeps the floor. Perhaps the coin might glint or hear it tinkle as the brush goes over it. That
are two reasons why the
woman may have been so
eager to find the coin. It
might have been sheer necessity. 5p does not sound very much but it was more
than a whole day’s wage for a working man. The woman and her family might have
been living on the edge of things, and the loss of the coin could mean nothing
to eat, that’s why she’s looking so carefully and anxiously.
Or there could be
another reason. Married women wore a head-dress made of ten silver coins linked
together by a silver chain. A woman would scrimp and save for years
for the ten coins, for the headdress was the same as a
wedding ring. There was a law which said that even if you were in deep debt
those silver coins, that headdress could not be taken from you. Perhaps it was
one of these coins
that the woman had lost, and so she was looking for it, anxiously,
carefully, as you would if you lost your wedding ring.
Jesus speaks of her joy,
when at last she sees the flash of silver, the glint, and yes there it is, she
picks it up, she has found it.
So, two stories then, the lost sheep, the lost coin.
What does it mean ? that the whole gospel is
here ?
In both stories,
Jesus speaks of something lost,
which is sought and found,
and the joy that that brings............
And here are three
great themes of the gospel are they not ?
something lost,
which is sought and found,
and the joy that that brings............
what are these ?
The something lost,
First, the something
lost.......
You see, the Pharisees aim was to draw the waggons
round and in an effort to be righteous and holy, protect themselves from any contact with others
who were not religious. These others, were sinners, outcasts,
losers, lost.
Now,
the message of the gospel is that we cannot draw the waggons round us, cut
ourselves off and be pure and holy,
simply because we are all sinners, that’s the
human condition,
we are all in this desparate situation,
that we are all sinners, all of us fall short of
the glory of God !
Not
only so, but because of our sinfulness there is a gulf between ourselves and
God
a gulf we cannot cross...... this is how deeply
we are lost !
the something lost.......is us !
something lost which is sought and found,
Well, if we are the
something lost -
we are those who were sought, looked for and
found........
the absolutely new thing that the
gospel proclaims is that the living God has some seeking us in His Son, in
Jesus Christ
God so loved the
world that He gave His only Son that whoever believes in Him will not die but
have everlasting life......
He did not send Him
into the world to condemn the world,
but to save
it............
the Son of God, who
came to seek and to save that which was lost
God has acted, He
has broken through in His Son, the Shepherd has
arrived,
looking for us...
suddenly, in our darkness,
there is a light glowing on the horizon,
the dawn is
nearing......... light in our darkness !
As the Good
Shepherd, the Lord Jesus has crossed the gulf from beyond and has come into our
world........... the world of the lost......
to find us.......
and there is joy in heaven over one sinner who
repents..... says Jesus
Now, here is
something deeper, here:
Let’s take time to think
about it.
What does this
phrase mean - joy in heaven over one sinner who repents..........
now, to repent is not to suddenly change overnight and
be the perfect person
by one huge effort, scrubbed up,
What the gospel
means by
a sinner who repents , may come as a surprise to us,
Jesus once spoke of
a sinner who repented........saying:
"Once there
were two men who went up to the
not even
raise his face to heaven, but beat on his breast and said, `God, have pity on
me, a sinner!' I tell you," said Jesus, "the tax collector, and not
the
Pharisee, was in the right with God when he went home.”
Because the tax collector
was a sinner, who repents, turns.... to God
a sinner who repents is one who knows how desperate
our situation is before God,
a sinner who repents is simply a man or woman who
knows
the increasing burden of sin and guilt,
a sinner who repents
is one who knows that God is perfect, pure Holiness,
and knows that we are
lost,
and so, turns to Jesus Christ,
a sinner who repents is one who finds that God in His love ..... has crossed the gulf,
looking for us, and finding us !
a sinner who repents finds at the Cross that God has dealt with our sin,
Jesus declares, there is joy about that in heaven, why ? Because, when a sinner repents, becomes real about their situation of sin and guilt and turns for help to Jesus Christ God’s purposes have been fulfilled, another man or woman has been redeemed,
another lost sheep has been found