Have you ever been lost - lost in a store, in a city, in the woods? How did it feel? Perhaps when an older person gets lost the feelings aren't quite as intense as they would be if the person were a child. And of course, people, especially men, hate to admit they don't know where they are. Nevertheless, we experience a good measure of discomfort and anxiety when lost, even if we don't admit it.
I remember a time when I was lost as a child. Actually, my oldest brother was more lost than I was. We were visiting our grandparents in Colorado and had taken a trip into Estes Park. That was a time when Colorado was less touristy, so the forests and mountainsides were a little wilder than today. It was a great place for us three boys to play cowboys. At the time I was around 4.
While our parents were getting the picnic lunch ready, we ran off behind some boulders in a cowboy chase. My brothers were older and faster than I was and I couldn't keep up with them. Before long I found myself alone among the rocks and pine trees. I think I was too young to know what panic was. But I do remember feeling very uncomfortable when Dad and Mom were nowhere to be seen. I really hadn't gone very far, though. Shortly, here came Dad around the boulder looking for me. What a relief; I was found! It took a while longer to locate my oldest brother. When they found him, you should have seen the look of distress on his face. He was gone for a good half hour, a long enough time for a little kid to be lost. I remember how Mom smothered him in her love, comforting him in his panic. The ironic thing about it was that he was just on the other side of the boulders, couldn't have been more than a hundred yards from the picnic table. So close, yet, so far.
You know, that's the way it is for many, not in Colorado, but before God. In their ignorance or immaturity they've run from Him, can't see Him; they're lost; but He's there. The Apostle Paul once told such people, “He is not far from each one of us for in Him we live and move and have our being” (Ac.17:28). So close, yet, so far. Could that describe any of us in our relationship with Him?
God grant that all find Him, for it's horrible to be separated from God. Actually, in his merciful love He finds us, for God was not the one who was lost; it was we! It is not we who find Him; it is He who finds us. And finding us He Comforts Us in His Love. So, dear friends, Take Comfort in God's Love, for our text shows Him to be a God who I. yearns for us when lost; and II. rejoices in us when found.
I. He yearns for us when lost.
Have you ever been lost from God? Yes, we've all at one point or another been lost from God because sin cut us off from Him. The Bible says our iniquities have separated us from Him (Is.59:2), like those great boulders in Colorado separated my brother from his family. Again it says, “We all have gone astray; we each have turned to his own way” (Is.53:6). And then there's the well-known story of the Prodigal Son which typifies our stubbornness in leaving our heavenly Father behind as we go out in our sin to do whatever we please. Have you ever been lost from God? Yes. Sin has taken us all away from Him. In the language of our text, we were the lost sheep or the lost coin to God.
The stories are pretty straight forward. A shepherd has 100 sheep and loses one of them. So he goes out to search for it and finds it. A woman has 10 coins and loses one of them. So she gets out the broom and carefully sweeps through the whole house, from top to bottom, until she finds it.
That one sheep, that one coin stands for us, lost in our sin until the Savior finds us. It's not just about others; it's also about us, every one of us. God had to come to find us.
In fact, the point is really that God wanted to come to find us. He yearned for us when we were lost. There isn't anyone that He doesn't yearn to have with Him. No one is insignificant, no one is so valueless that God doesn't want him, even though one can't see his value.
Think of it this way. Do you have a lost and found drawer at home? What kinds of things do you have there? I'll bet a lot of them are pretty insignificant things.
I looked into my lost and found things and found a screw there, in fact, a couple of them. I know where they came from. I picked them off the floor of my car - just picked up another one a few days ago. It probably lay there for a while without my noticing it. I looked to see if I could find from where it fell. Was it part of the door? part of the seat? part of the things under the dashboard? I couldn't find an empty hole. So it's in my drawer - just a little old screw. It's got to be somewhat important otherwise it wouldn't be
there. But the car surely isn't falling apart because of its loss. Significant or insignificant? I can't decide. But I hope I don't lose it before I find its place.
Is it possible that someone might feel as insignificant as that screw, not knowing where he or she fits? Likewise, can a person be lost before God with little hope that he will be missed?
One sheep. It might not seem like a lot to lose, especially if you've got a hundred of them. In Jesus' day that was a pretty large flock, so the man was wealthy. One sheep that wandered away. A loss, yes, but not a great loss some might say. Besides one of the ewes will soon have another lamb to replace it.
One lost coin - not a hundred dollar bill, not a diamond from an engagement ring. That would be valuable. But one lost coin? Does it matter?
Jesus reply, “Yes! It does matter to God!” Not the sheep or the coin, but what those pictured in Jesus' parable – people, souls, hearts lost in sin to God. None are insignificant; none are valueless to Him. The Pharisees considered some people valueless and complained that Jesus would even bother with them. But to the Lord Jesus not a one was insignificant; yes, not even the Pharisees.
You know that so well, dear friends, if you read the Scriptures and consider matters of eternal salvation. How often doesn't the Bible say things like, “God so loved the world ,” not some people, but the world. Or “God would have all men to be saved,” not some people, but all people. Or think of the example of Paul from our Epistle Lesson today. Would any one think that such a rebel and violent man, a persecutor of God's people like Paul had once been, would be valuable to God? Even Paul didn't think so because he called himself the worst of sinners (1Tm.1:15). Yet Paul wrote, “For that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display His unlimited patience…The grace and love of our Lord was poured out on me abundantly.”
Why? Paul cried. Why me? I'm valueless! To sinful men perhaps, but not to God. Like the shepherd or the woman in the parable, even one, every one is significant to Him. He yearns for us all when we are lost. And so He sent His best gift, His most valuable possession, His own Son, to die for our sin and rise again to overcome it.
In our world of billions, dear friends, you are one of many numbers; I am one of many numbers with no one to really care
about us; except those closest to us. And who will miss you now or later? No one, except God. He wants you with Him now and forever. Even though heaven is filled with ten thousand times ten thousand angels who praise Him perfectly; even though there are countless numbers of saints from every nation, tribe, and language for whom Christ Jesus died, He also died in your place and in the place of those who do not yet know Him. Each one! Lost significance? Not to God. And that's what He wants you and all the rest to know.
This is grace; this is merciful love. God yearns for us when we are lost. What a truth in which you can take comfort, dear friend, fellow sinner turned saint in Christ. Take Comfort in God's forgiving Love.
II. He rejoices in us when found.
Do you still wonder if this is true? Then consider the response of the seeker in the parables after the lost items were recovered.
The shepherd returned with his lost sheep, called his neighbors together, and asked them to joyfully celebrate with him because the lost and seemingly insignificant sheep had been found. The woman carefully looked through the whole house and found the lost coin. Then she called her friends together to rejoice with her. Finally, Jesus put the spiritual significance on this all when He said that in a similar way God and heaven rejoice to see one lost sinner come back to Him in repentance. He rejoices in us when found .
You know, Jesus told these parables so that we would know that the smile on these faces, the cradling of the lost thing in their hands, and the joy of celebration with their friends are pictures of God and heaven as He receives each sinner who repents. As He said in our text, “I tell you that in the same way there is more rejoicing in heaven…in the presence of the angels of God…over one sinner who repents.” God rejoices! Heaven rejoices! Shouldn't we rejoice too, taking comfort in His love?
Sometimes I fear people on the outside almost get the idea from watching Christians that we are supposed to be sad, long-faced people. Oh, it's good to be serious at times, for example in our study of God's Word and in our worship. I'd say that we Lutheran Christians are. We're serious about God's Word and worship and following the liturgy which, above any other forms of worship that I've seen, still is best at portraying all the truths of the Gospel.
rightly. Sometimes, it's good to be serious.
At the same time the Lord Jesus wants us to know that the Savior meets us like the happy shepherd and the excited woman in our text. He meets us like my parents met my lost brother when he was found in Colorado, thrilled to have him back with the family, smothering him in their love.
Likewise, Christ rejoices when we are found; He has open arms for us when we admit our sin and come to Him for help. He provides us with His beautiful robe of righteousness. He invites us to a splendid feast through Word and Sacrament. And finally He brings us safely home to heaven. What love! What comfort to us! What a reason we have to smile and sing on our part! As Paul encouraged the Philippians: “Rejoice in the Lord always… Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called you heavenward in Christ Jesus” (4:4;3:13f).
What's more, just as the Lord Jesus and His holy angels find joy in seeing lost sinners brought to repentance and faith, so do we. “Since God so loved us,” John writes, “We love others” (1:4:11).
When we know that God loves us like this, we cannot do anything less than reflect His love in a big smile on our face as we meet, work, and play with people. A happy Savior and His angels, makes for happy Christians when they believe in their redemption. And happy Christians ought to be the favorite friends of others who learn from them that God forgives and loves them, too, – all of them.
God grant us such rejoicing in our life as He smothers us in His merciful love, like a mother smothers her once lost, but recently found child. Dear friend, Take Comfort in His love. It is a love that yearns for you when lost and rejoices in you when found. God grant it in our lives of faith for Jesus' sake. Amen.