443. Walking in the Word, Seeking the Lost

Jesus tells us, in no uncertain terms, that we are to seek the lost. Who is He talking about and what does He mean? The depth of His answer might surprise you. Join Julie Jenkins for a study of Luke 15.

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Welcome to Walking in the Word, the biblical teaching arm of the Women World Leaders’ Podcast. My name is Julie Jenkins and I am so happy you have joined us today as we continue our walk through the gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.

It is June 2023 as I record this. If you are a regular monthly donor to Women World Leaders, please make sure to check your mailbox in the coming days for our newly released 12th edition of Voice of Truth. If you are new to the ministry and are not familiar with Voice of Truth magazine, I encourage you to go to our website, www.womenworldleaders.com, and check it out. We have all the back issues available digitally, and the new edition will be up within a week. We send out a physical copy of this beautiful, full-color, 100+ page magazine to each of our regular donors as a thank you, because saying thank you for supporting this ministry just doesn’t seem like enough! By supporting Women World Leaders, YOU are reaching women across the globe – offering them the gospel message and giving them tools and support to walk in their God-given purpose. Personally, I don’t believe there is a greater mission than that. God is the master organizer and coordinator – and although He can do ANYTHING in the blink of an eye, He often uses us, His children, to partner with Him. If we EACH were to respond to Him by fulfilling the role He designed us for, imagine how beautiful the world would be. So you might say our underlying goal at Women World Leaders is to help steer the world into the beautiful place God created it to be. Does that sound lofty? Well…our God is amazing…and nothing is beyond Him! So, thank you to our donors and our leaders for believing for the lofty with us!

Let’s dive in, shall we? Today’s teaching comes from the 15th chapter of the book of Luke. Let’s begin in prayer.

Dear Most Holy God, We thank you for meeting us each where we are today – for guiding us a leading us in the path you have ordained for each of us. Father, I thank you for Women World Leaders! I thank you for the donors, the leaders, and the opportunity to share your Word with the world. Guide us as we open Scripture together, and teach us what you want us to know today. In Jesus’ name, I pray. Amen.

As we continue walking through the gospels, we are currently studying the book of Luke together. Most recently, we saw Jesus attend a dinner at the home of a Pharisee and then later teach the large crowds who were following Him what it means to truly be His disciples. Today, we continue to follow Jesus as He continues teaching using parables.

Chapter 15 from the New Living Translation begins…

Tax collectors and other notorious sinners often came to listen to Jesus teach. 2 This made the Pharisees and teachers of religious law complain that he was associating with such sinful people—even eating with them!

These verses are important to this chapter because it sets up Jesus to share three parables – The Lost Sheep, The Lost Coin, and The Lost Son.

The sinners were flocking to Jesus, and the Pharisees were calling Jesus out for hanging out with the sinners – those who were deemed unclean.

As we study the Bible, we tend to see the Pharisees from a single, harsh angle. They were the rabble-rousers—the prideful, arrogant religious leaders who positioned themselves above everyone else. But the reality is, they have gotten a much worse reputation through the course of history. They, after all, were men who had devoted their lives to following God, and deemed the best way to do that was to follow the law of Moses. They WERE trying to hold to scripture, and even though we can see they went overboard and many of them missed Jesus’ calling to follow Him, we should be careful to recognize that their attitude was very complex and is one that many of us fall into today.

We, as the Christian church, are in danger of becoming the Pharisees of today.

That’s a tough statement. And it is one we should recognize fight against on an individual level—just as Jesus called the Pharisees to confront their own sins, He calls us to look at ourselves.

As a Christian, it is imperative that I ask myself regularly, “Do I love others as Jesus did? Do I love others as Jesus does? Am I willing to look past the someone else’s sin and see the person God made them to be? Do I choose to love EVEN and ESPECIALLY those who are CHOOSING to sin, recognizing that MY sin is no greater than theirs and God that has given me the HONOR to love them and meet them where they are?”

Pride and arrogance are as rampant in the Christian church today as they were in the days of the Pharisees. So as you listen to Jesus teaching – ask yourself, what does God want ME to do differently in my life?

Jesus first told a parable targeted to the men, beginning in verse 4…

“If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them gets lost, what will he do? Won’t he leave the ninety-nine others in the wilderness and go to search for the one that is lost until he finds it? 5 And when he has found it, he will joyfully carry it home on his shoulders. 6 When he arrives, he will call together his friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me because I have found my lost sheep.’ 7 In the same way, there is more joy in heaven over one lost sinner who repents and returns to God than over ninety-nine others who are righteous and haven’t strayed away!

We see a theme developing here that carries all through chapter 15 – something was lost, the owner did everything possible to find the one missing piece, and then joyful celebration broke out.

The first story is the story of the sheep, who was lost through his own foolishness. The shepherd, who represents God, was responsible for EACH of the sheep. But not only was He responsible for each sheep, He also loved each sheep dearly—enough to step away from the faithful flock so He could find the one who had strayed.

How often do we remain in our bubble of Christianity, afraid to step out to find those who have set themselves apart? Over and over, I hear parents say that they want to protect their children from the evils of society. Parents – if we pull our God-loving children out of society to protect them, who is going to be the light of God to those children who don’t come from a Christian home? Every child is different, but I encourage you to take a moment and think – what if I empower my child to make a difference in their school or club or organization rather than simply trying to protect them? What if I, instead, walk with my child into the unknown, traveling alongside them and spending time tutoring or leading a Christian club or simply being available to those who may not have another Christian influence?

Jesus put it all on the line to go after the one. Are we willing to do the same?

Then Jesus moves from shepherding to taking care of the home – something the women in the crowd would be more familiar with.

“Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins[a] and loses one. Won’t she light a lamp and sweep the entire house and search carefully until she finds it? 9 And when she finds it, she will call in her friends and neighbors and say, ‘Rejoice with me because I have found my lost coin.’ 10 In the same way, there is joy in the presence of God’s angels when even one sinner repents.”

The coin, although it was a single coin that wasn’t worth much, was important to the woman, and so it became a priority for her to find it. She did what was necessary to recover her lost treasure. She lit a lamp, she swept, and then she searched carefully.

In our world, we are given a purpose to make others our priority – even those who don’t seem all that important to us or the world. The sinners – the tax collectors and those who were not following the law of Moses to the nth degree—were deemed unimportant and even disposable by the Pharisees. In this parable, Jesus marks the importance of every individual.

Who, in our society, have we as Christians deemed unimportant or disposable? Who do we dismiss and maybe even try to avoid?

Let me ask you some difficult questions. Do you believe in God? Do you have faith that He will protect you? Do you trust Him when He tells you where you should go? Christian, Jesus, in no uncertain terms, is telling us to LOVE the marginalized in society. He is telling us to speak to the sinners, to embrace those we aren’t following scripture. And what is our agenda to be when we do? Simply to love them! To open our hearts. And to trust GOD.

Just as there was no coin that was unimportant in the woman’s eye, so there is NO individual who is unimportant in God’s eyes.

And finally, scripture says, “to illustrate the point further,” Jesus told the story of the Lost Son. Let me paraphrase…

A man had two sons…the younger one decided he wanted his inheritance early. So the father gave the young man his inheritance, likely a third of all he owned. The son then sold the property and left town with the money. You probably know the story…after he wasted away all his money and was so hungry that his mouth was watering after the pigs’ slop, he returned to his father.

When his father saw him coming, he RAN TO HIM! How beautiful is that?

The sheep was lost to foolishness, the coin was lost to carelessness, but the son was lost because of his own willfulness.

The father had every right to turn away from the son who had willfully disengaged with him. The son had damaged his father. He had asked for his inheritance, basically telling the him ‘I wish you were dead,’ took the family land and SOLD it – not even using it for his own long-term gain – that must have stabbed the father. And then he went silent. There were no cell phones or email or Facebook. The father grieved the loss of his child, truly not knowing if he was dead or alive. And then the son returned. And when he saw him, the father dropped all his dignity and pretension and RAN to his son. Not only did he run because he was thrilled to see him, but he ran to him to protect him. The young man had completely disrespected his father and his family, and by all rights, should have been stoned…so the man ran, knowing that if he was beside his son, no one would dare hurt him.

The father welcomed the young man by giving him his robe – a symbol of honor and authority, a ring—a symbol of belonging in the family, and sandals—which identified him as a son.

The father – representing God, welcomed this young man who had hurt him, sinned against him, and left him. But who also CHOSE to return.

And then a joyful celebration broke out – just like when the shepherd found the lost sheep and the woman found the lost coin. Doing the work of Jesus – reaching out to the least of these and welcoming them into the Christian fold, is the BEST reason for celebration there is.

But do you know who wasn’t joyful in this last parable? The oldest son. The one who had remained by the father’s side and waited patiently for his inheritance was now jealous and angry. He had steadfastly remained by his father, and now his wayward, sinful brother was being welcomed back?

We don’t know the end of the story. The brother went to the father and voiced his frustration. And his father replied…

‘Look, dear son, you have always stayed by me, and everything I have is yours. 32 We had to celebrate this happy day. For your brother was dead and has come back to life! He was lost, but now he is found!’”

I think Jesus left this open-ended intentionally. Remember, He was speaking to the Pharisees. By not delineating the older sons actions, Jesus was making them aware of their choice: You can be happy that I am hanging out with sinners and welcoming them into the kingdom, or you can be bitter and go your own way.

Although it seems that many Pharisees held to the letter of the law, dismissing the importance of love, we do know that some understood and began to trust Jesus.

It is not our job as Christians to make SURE an individual CHOOSES to follow Jesus, any more than it was the father’s job to chase down his lost son or demand joy from the son who had stayed by his side.

God has gifted us, as Christians, with the joy of searching for and loving all others—saints and sinners alike and PRESENTING them with a different way of life – for THEIR choosing. We can trust God’s provision and protection as we follow His call. But oh the joy when we join in the celebration of each homecoming, because there is NO ONE who is too small to celebrate.

Let’s pray…

Dear Father – thank you for seeking US out each time we stray. God, we confess that, at times, WE have been the stumbling block for others to come to you. Father, we seek your forgiveness even as we thank you for running to us with open arms of love and protection. Guide each of us today to step into your calling as we seek to love the unloved, opening our arms and hearts in unexpected and amazing ways. In Jesus’ name, I pray. Amen.