Your Senses

This is the third of three parables that Jesus tells. They are all connected with a central theme of finding things that are lost. We hear the beginning of The Parable of the Lost Son in Luke 15:11-20a: ¹¹ Jesus continued: “There was a man who had two sons. ¹² The younger one said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of the estate.’ So he divided his property between them.

¹³ “Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. ¹⁴ After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. ¹⁵ So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. ¹⁶ He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything.

¹⁷ “When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! ¹⁸ I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. ¹⁹ I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired servants.’ ²⁰ So he got up and went to his father.

The stories so far have been of lost things that someone else had to go find. In this parable we see the phrase, “he came to his senses”. The prodigal son knew he was lost, and had to go home to his Father. It’s true today. When we “come to our senses” we must go back to father God asking forgiveness.

What do you need to go to the Father for today?

May all of us "come to our senses" and get right with God. Amen?

Rejoicing

Today we will look at the second of three parables that Jesus tells as recorded in Luke. They are all connected with a central theme of finding things that are lost. We hear The Parable of the Lost Coin in Luke 15:8-10: ⁸ “Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins^] and loses one. Doesn’t she light a lamp, sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it? ⁹ And when she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost coin.’ ¹⁰ In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”

Just like in the first story Jesus’ audience would have been astounded by this account. No Jewish woman would ever lose a silver coin. Scholars believe the ten coins were her dowry and most likely worn around her neck. There is no way should could of lost one, but she did. The result is the same as the first – there is rejoicing here and in heaven!

Repentance leads to Rejoicing!

Amen?

I Just Want To Be a Sheep

This is the first of three parables that Jesus tells. They are all connected with a central theme of finding things that are lost. We hear The Parable of the Lost Sheep in Luke 15:3-7: ³ Then Jesus told them this parable: ⁴ “Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Doesn’t he leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? ⁵ And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders ⁶ and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.’ ⁷ I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.

The listeners to this story would have been astounded. Shepherds never lose sheep, and even if they did they would never leave the 99 in open ground to go find just one. To top it all off he didn’t try to hide it he had a big party! I am sure there were gasps in the audience. They never heard such a tale before.

God loves us more than that shepherd loved his sheep.

If He loves us that much how much more should we love one another?

Today and always – love the unlovely and lost in this world. Amen?

No Change

This week we are looking at evangelism, and how “the lost” are so important to God. In Luke 15:1-2 we see the setting and audience for three of Jesus’ most famous parables (stories).  Now the tax collectors and sinners were all gathering around to hear Jesus. ² But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.”

Jesus is teaching through storytelling. He wants His listeners to understand how God operates, and how they can be part of His plan. The Pharisees and other church leaders did not want change or to upset their plans. They “never done it that way before” and they were not going to start now.

Funny how things haven’t change much in 2,000 years. People are still ‘stiff necked and hard hearted”, and Jesus message has not changed. It’s not about us – It’s all about God! This week think about the “lost things and people” in your world.

What does Jesus want you to do about it?

Today and always – do it God’s way. Amen?

Reaching Out

At my church (and this blog) we are in week five of the 30 Day Church Challenge. We have been studying the five purposes of the church using the first church’s model as found in Acts 2:42-47. So far we have seen that they had:

1. Authentic Community
2. Daily Worship
3. Spiritual Growth
4. Practiced Stewardship

This week the focus will be on Acts 2:47 that says: And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.

The title to this week’s lesson is - Lost and Found: Reaching Out to Your Relational World. We’ll be using Like 15 as our teaching text, so today read the chapter, and start thinking about its meaning.

Pray for God's heart in reaching those who are lost. Amen?