God's Lost & Found Department
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Introduction
Introduction
Greetings…
Theme: The Life of Christ
Hope: To draw closer to our Lord and Savior through a close study of his life here on earth.
Now as you and I know there are “lost and found departments” in many different places.
Whether in schools (mom used to bring home all sorts of stuff after the end of the year), or government buildings, and even department stores.
The God whom you and I are here to worship this morning also has a “lost and found department.”
We find it discussed in Luke 15, where we read four lost and one found.
It’s here we find three parables, “the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the prodigal son.”
Every single one of us has been in one or more of these three groups before.
This morning we are going to be examining who is being represented and the lessons we can gain from them.
We find represented in each of these three parables…
The Lost
The Lost
How Can We Become Lost?
How Can We Become Lost?
In each of these parables we find different ways in which people can find themselves lost and separated from their God.
Some are lost like the sheep.
Through their lack of paying attention they have “wondered away” from the safety and security of their shepherd.
Some are lost like the coin.
Through their lack of “self-control” they allow others to place a stumbling block in front of them and they trip over it as they fall away from God.
Some are like the prodigal son.
Through their stubbornness and rebellion they are determined to lose themselves.
Some are like the elder brother.
Through their bad attitude they “don’t do what is right” and drift away from God.
We can learn a lot from these four lost souls.
The Lost Sheep.
Again these are those that wonder away through either a lack of paying attention.
So many Christians have been led away by Satan and his ministers because they simply have not studied God’s word enough to know what is righteous and unrighteous.
13 for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child.
14 so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes.
The reality is when we seek not to mature in our faith, which is based on studying God’s word (Romans 10:17), we can easily find what little faith we had, i.e., our trust in God through his word taken from us.
20 As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy, 21 yet he has no root in himself, but endures for a while, and when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately he falls away.
The only way to guard against “wandering away” is to immerse ourselves in the word.
13 for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child. 14 But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.
14 so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. 15 Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ,
The Lost Coin.
These are those again, who fall away due to tripping over the stumbling block placed before them.
Don’t get me wrong we all will give an account of our good and evil and won’t be able to “blame others” for our sin (2 Corinthians 5:10; Ecclesiastes 12:14).
However, the scriptures are clear one can be fall away due to others putting the stumbling block in front of them.
9 But take care that this right of yours does not somehow become a stumbling block to the weak.
6 but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea.
The only way to guard against such is to keep one’s zeal for God and to not let others bring us down.
9 Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. 10 Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor. 11 Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord.
The Prodigal Son.
These are those that know the truth and reject it for some “hope” at a more exciting life on this earth.
20 For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first. 21 For it would have been better for them never to have known the way of righteousness than after knowing it to turn back from the holy commandment delivered to them. 22 What the true proverb says has happened to them: “The dog returns to its own vomit, and the sow, after washing herself, returns to wallow in the mire.”
4 For it is impossible, in the case of those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit, 5 and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come, 6 and then have fallen away, to restore them again to repentance, since they are crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm and holding him up to contempt.
The Elder Brother.
Again, our attitude plays a major part on our faithfulness as the scriptures are clear we cannot have a “poor attitude” and be faithful to our God.
The elder brother was angry and spiteful at his God for rejoicing at his brother’s return but this we must not have this attitude.
22 But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire.
8 Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.
This elder brother was “self-righteous” saying he had never done anything wrong” which is completely false and the wrong attitude, considering our obvious lack of self-control.
8 If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
10 If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.
This elder brother was “selfish” or a “lover of self” saying “I have never left you and you never did anything like this for me” yet his father had blessed him so much.
2 For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, 4 treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God,
21 For they all seek their own interests, not those of Jesus Christ.
Summary
Summary
A child of God drifting away, falling away, running away or any other form of separation from God is the most horrible thing that could ever happen.
We must be diligent to never find ourselves in this situation.
These parables aren’t just about the lost however, they are about the…
Lost Seekers
Lost Seekers
God Is Seeking The Lost.
God Is Seeking The Lost.
There is no doubt that God is the one seeking in each of these three parables.
He is the shepherd searching for his sheep.
He is the woman tearing the house apart looking for the coin.
He is the father watching everyday for a gimps of his son’s return.
In these we find two realities about God and the lost.
With the sheep, coin, and elder son we find God can still reach them though they are lost.
The reality is when we sin and are not wayward God seek to discipline us in hopes of us showing up so he can rescue us.
7 It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? 8 If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. 9 Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live?
10 For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. 11 For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. 12 Therefore lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees,
With the prodigal son we find the son had gone so far away that God could not reach him, but rather had to wait for him to return.
When this happens “God gives them up” in hopes that they “wise up.”
24 Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves,
11 Therefore God sends them a strong delusion, so that they may believe what is false,
Summary
Summary
How wonderfully powerful is it to know that God loves us so much, even when we are sinners.
We know this because of the rejoicing in each and every one of these parables.
There is no greater rejoicing in heaven then when someone lost is found.
Conclusion
Conclusion
God’s Lost & Found Department is impressive to say the least.
Think of all the millions of people that, over the centuries, that had been lost and then found again by God.
In one way or another everyone here can relate to being lost and needing to be found.
Because we know what it is like to be lost and then found let us do our part and help those lost right now to be found.
If they are not God’s children show them God’s saving message.
If they are God’s children show remind them of God’s love for them and desire for their return.
Invitation
1 Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save, or his ear dull, that it cannot hear; 2 but your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear.
6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.
17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.
6 And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.
30 The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent,
32 “Therefore whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven.
8 in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.
1 Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, 2 and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. 3 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures,
3 Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. 5 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.
7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.