Sermon Tone Analysis

Pre-Opener:

[I have a confession] I am like most male drivers: I don’t stop for directions.

Ever.

It’s in The Real Man’s Handbook, chapter 3. “Never stop for directions” is part of what it means to be a man.

The “ask for directions” gene is on that second X chromosome that men are missing.

Most men think getting from A to B is simply a matter of confidence.

If we believe in ourselves hard enough, then we can get anywhere.

It’s navigation by confidence.

And the worst thing that can happen to a male driver like me is when I actually do “figure out” where I am or where I went wrong.

Every time we “figure out” our way, it reinforces our confidence.

It grows our sense of direction.

The only thing that can undermine a man’s confidence in driving is a woman in the car.

You can fill a car with men who don’t know where they’re going.

Do you know what they do?

They “figure it out” together.

They share their confidence with each other until everyone is sure that they know the way.

But put a woman in the car, and the first thing she says is, “Do you know where you’re going?” “I think we’re lost.”

“I’ve seen that house before.”

They say, “Pull over and ask him for directions,” and it can be some guy who’s clearly as lost and aimless as you!

You think you can figure out any misdirection, and a woman thinks anybody but you can do it!

[Thabiti Anyabwile, Exalting Jesus in Luke, Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary (Nashville, TN: Holman Reference, 2018), Lk 15.]

Introduction

Illustration - Do you remember the first time you ever realized that you were hopelessly lost?

Luke 15

SUBJECT: How did Jesus challenge religious teachers’ condemnation of his mixing with tax collectors and sinners, viewed as outcasts from society and alienated from God?

COMPLEMENT: He taught that God cared deeply for them and intentionally sought to find and recover them.

EXEGETICAL IDEA: Jesus challenged religious teachers’ condemnation of his mixing with tax collectors and sinners, viewed as outcasts from society and alienated from God, by teaching that God cared deeply for them and intentionally seeking to find and recover them.

HOMILETICAL IDEA: Human judgment is challenged by God’s love and transformed into compassion that shares the good news.

[Julian R. Gotobed, “Luke,” in The Big Idea Companion for Preaching and Teaching: A Guide from Genesis to Revelation, ed.

Matthew D. Kim and Scott M. Gibson (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic: A Division of Baker Publishing Group, 2021), 442.]

Sub-intro:

As Jesus continues to describe what it means to be an heir of the kingdom, he turns to describing God’s attitude toward the “lost” people who come into that kingdom.

In Luke 15:1–32, Jesus offers three pictures of rejoicing over something that was lost that has been found.

And in each instance, the person who finds what was lost throws a feast.

The specific reason for Jesus sharing these three parables about lostness is to explain why his ministry is focused on the population that the religious elite haughtily identify as “sinners,” unworthy of their attention.

This is not God’s attitude toward even the lowest prodigal who nonetheless “comes to himself” and repents.

[Douglas Mangum, ed., Lexham Context Commentary: New Testament, Lexham Context Commentary (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2020), Lk 15:1–32.]

As someone said on Twitter recently, “Satan’s true masterpiece is the Pharisee, not the prostitute.”

Their grumbling provides the context for [this one parable] in Luke 15.

[Thabiti Anyabwile]

A. Let 's Get Excited

1. Let's get excited about Jesus

2. Let's get excited about the gospel

3. Let's get excited about salvation

4. Let's get excited about soul winning

This story is similar as the first story about the lost sheep, but it is also different.

* A lamb was lost in the first and a coin in the second.

* The lamb strayed from its owner in the first, but the coin was lost by the owner in the second.

* The lamb was lost in the wilderness, but the coin was lost in a home.

People wander from God when they get out into the wilderness of this wicked world, but they can also wander from God when they are in church.

* The search for the lamb was motivated by pity for it, but the preciousness of the coin motivated the search in the second story.

Our Lord seeks us out, just like He sought out Adam and Eve in the garden, because He pities us, but also considers us to be precious.

We are valuable to Him.

* The sheep was lost because of its foolishness, but the coin was lost because of carelessness and inattentiveness.

We wander from God because of stupidity and foolish living, but we also wander because we are careless and not paying attention to the choices we make and their consequences, until it is too late.

~Rod Mattoon, Treasures

B. Joy in the Presence of Angels of God

1.

Not only by angels, but in their presence

2. Christians in heaven made happy each time another is saved on earth

3. Why is soul winning so important?

II.

Body

I.

Because of the Value of the Soul (Luke 15:8-9; Mark 8:36)

1.

The mad race to possess things

2. The title deed to the earth would not be enough to compensate for the loss of a soul

3. How much attention we give to the body

a. Fitness, dressing up, fixing up

b.

The millions spent on health care

4. Compare this to the small amount spent on winning souls

Rod Mattoon said, “That lamb is like us.

We are like sheep, beloved, that have a tendency to stray or wander.

It seems to be in our nature.

The picture here can be one of a lost sinner, but a more accurate picture is one of a Christian that has gotten away from God.

This lamb was in the fold and has wandered off.”

* Isaiah 53:6a—All we like sheep have gone astray;.…

* Proverbs 27:8—As a bird that wandereth from her nest, so is a man that wandereth from his place.

* 1 Peter 2:25—For ye were as sheep going astray; but are now returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls.

5. Think how little time is spent or money invested by the average church in soul winning

The point would have been clear to Jesus’ listeners: the sinners with whom He was associating were extremely valuable to God. (Cf.

similar wording in vv.

6, 9.)

[John A. Martin, “Luke,” in The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures, ed.

J. F. Walvoord and R. B. Zuck, vol. 2 (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1985), 244.]

If there is any difference in the two passages, it is in the detailed description of the woman’s effort, which focuses the picture on the effort given to finding the lost coin (Ernst 1977: 454) . . .

The emphasis is on the joy and celebration that comes from finding what was lost . . .

The courts of heaven are full of celebration at the coming of a sinner to God.

Heaven’s joy and the angels’ desire for sinners to come to God is to be matched by the efforts of those who seek to serve God.

[Darrell L. Bock, Luke: 9:51–24:53, vol.

2, Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 1996), 1303.]

B. Because of the Reality of Both Heaven and Hell

1. Believers go to heaven when they die

a.