Lost and Found

and on the platform we've had this setup actually that's been there the entire time. And we've been talking about the stories of Jesus and the parables of Jesus, but kind of in the environment of storytelling. I've got Pastor Josiah with me on the platform. He's gonna help me preach in a few moments. He's actually gonna be the narrator for Jesus stories. And I'm looking forward to that. If you don't know, Pastor Josiah, he and Pastor Micah, are our lead, our young adults. And this Tuesday, we have our first Tuesday gathering. And any one of our locations, you're welcome to join us. It's gonna be a fantastic time of relationships and those kind of things hanging out for young adults. I'm no longer a young adult, maybe young adult of heart, but I'm not. I can take you back to a time though in my life and in Jodi's life, and I was thinking about it if we were sharing a round of fire and I'm looking at you as a father. And now you have three beautiful girls that you're raising and thinking about the challenges that you face. And I'm a little bit further ahead of you and we look back and go, "Man, God was faithful." Remember a time when I was young, Jodi was young, we had a house, we had prayed and Jodi felt like the Lord had spoken to her about staying home with our kids that meant she wasn't working and that was a whole leap of faith that cut our income in half.

And Jodi likes to say that's, she learned there, it wasn't Jodi Jaira, it was Jehovah Jaira and that whole period of time. But we then learned to live on nothing and learned to just trust the Lord. And there was a time in our story where I remember we were laying our head on the pillow at night and Jodi just said, "I just wish I could get a gas grill." Now that might seem like anything to people in here right now, but for us at that point of our story, we were watching, it was pennies. We were pinching pennies and we were trying to, they don't even make pennies anymore. And we were literally not able to buy anything extra. And we weren't complaining, we had learned to trust the Lord in any and everything, whether it had plenty or little. And we were just trusting the Lord. And I remember at that moment, Jodi just whispered that and we just kind of left it in the hands of the Lord and just kind of moved on. Then a couple weeks later, Jodi opened the door and on our doorstep was a box of a gas grill. And Jodi and I looked at each other 'cause we didn't tell anybody, we just talked to the Lord. And we had tears in our eyes, tears aren't down our face 'cause we recognize that Jesus sees us, that God the Father in heaven notices us, even when we think it's just a cry of our heart, but that he notices us. How many found that he is faithful and he notices you?

(congregation applauding) So that's a story and a story has a way of revealing what's in the heart. It has a way of taking our attitudes and our beliefs. And God is interested on the things on the inside, not just on the outside. In Proverbs 21, two, it says, people may be right in their own eyes, but the Lord examines their heart. You see, God is looking at the heart level and the heart is the control room of the soul. And in the series that we're in, we've been looking at how Jesus is wanting to tell stories, not just to tell stories to be cute or win awards for creative writing, but he actually has an interest in the audience when they hear it, will it move them and provoke them to change? And the title of today's message is this, lost and found, lost and found. All right, go with me to Luke chapter 15. We're gonna look at three stories here today that Jesus is gonna tell. And in Luke 15, Jesus has an audience that he wants to reveal something going on in their heart. So let's look at the audience that Jesus is gonna tell his stories to you. First of all, in verse one of chapter 15, it says, "Tax collectors and other notorious sinners "often came to listen to Jesus' teach. "This made the Pharisees and teachers of religious law

"complain that he was associating with such sinful people, "even eating with them, even eating with these people." So the audience that he would have were tax collectors, notorious sinners and Pharisees. So in Jesus' audience, and it says that they're kind of a repeat audience who often came to listen to Jesus. These are people that were hearing his stories, listening. It wasn't necessarily just one person. had an attitude about the other people that were there, the notorious sinners, the people that were just average everyday people showing up, and they had an attitude about it. In fact, they complained about Jesus, Luke says. They're complaining that he's hanging out with these people you shouldn't be hanging out with, and those Pharisees had an attitude. Now, Jesus is going to tell a story now for both of his audiences. Both groups are categories, and the people are coming, and it says in verse number three, so Jesus told them this story, and he's going to tell three stories that are all connected, and those three stories are first of all the story of the lost sheep. The second story is the story of the lost coin. I think it's not sticky anymore, lost coin, all right? And then finally, the story of the lost sons. Now, I want you to notice something as we go through this. I want you to notice that they're all connected, and Jesus builds his stories for his audiences. And to help me, I have Pastor Josiah's going to help me with the first story, the lost sheep. Go ahead and start us off with verse number four. If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them gets lost, what will he do? Won't he leave the 99 others in the wilderness and go and search for the one that is lost until he finds it? And when he is founded, he will joyfully carry it home on his shoulders. When he arrives, he will call together his friends and neighbors, saying, "Rejoice with me, because I have found my lost sheep." In the same way, there is more joy in heaven, over one lost sinner who repents and returns to God than over 99 others who are righteous and haven't strayed away. All right, so Jesus tells the story of the lost sheep. There's a hundred sheep, one leaves, so now there's 99 left, one was gone. In his story, Jesus is illustrating a number of things. First of all, I want you to notice that the hundred are saved when they're together.

The fact, the person that's going to search, the shepherd that's going to go search for the lost sheep, leaves the 99 to go after the one, meaning they're safe as long as they're together. There's protection in being together. I'll turn to the person. Next you say, "I'm so glad you're here with me today." All right, so then, but the challenge is that the one is lost is vulnerable. Let me tell you this, isolation is a great danger for all of us. We're the most vulnerable when we're in isolation. This one that had left needed a shepherd to come and get him. We don't know all the circumstances in this part of the story. Jesus told other stories about a shepherd leaving to go after a seep in the thicket and who's caught and all of that. In this particular version in Luke chapter 15, we discover that this seep had left and the lost seep is in danger. That's where the wolves go after you. They don't attack the flock together. They go after the one that has wandered off. Let me just say this to all of us today. No matter if it's mental illness and depression or other kind of things, the most dangerous thing for you to do is to pull away from people in your life. We need each other. It's really a critical deal. If you're battling something and you're like, the enemy tries to lie to you. They don't want you. They don't want you to be around. In the kingdom of God and the church, you need to be with the church. You need to be connected. It's important for your own health and all those things. But here's the thing with being lost. We don't know the circumstance why this seep is lost. Why did it leave? Did you just get left behind? Was it a neglectful parent? Somebody just forgot about them and they just moved on with their life. We don't know. And we don't know if they're even frantic because lost people sometimes are your lost. Oh no, where am I going to be? But sometimes it's the opposite. They don't even know they're lost. of America. And in the Mall of America, Jodi would do something with our four sons. She would make them all wear the same color shirt. Then she could know where her kids were at all time. And we were doing a pretty good job of it, but at one point, one of our sons wandered off and we didn't know when. It was in 30 seconds, or a minute gap, or something, and we couldn't find him. And so then it was, let's go after the security in the Mall. Let's ask everybody.

How many know the first 30 seconds when you realize your child is lost, you go crazy on the inside? It's panic, it's fear, it's scenarios in your head, and you're like, where are they? We looked and five minutes feels like ten hours. And finally we find Jeff, but you know where Jeff was? He was in Legoland. Having fun. Sometimes when you're lost, you don't even know your loss. Sometimes you're just gone. You don't know you're in danger. You don't know it, and it could happen. And so Jesus is sharing the story about the lost seep and the value of the lost seep to the father, to Jesus. And he's talking to the audience and he's saying, hey listen, that lost seep is super valuable and it requires you leaving the 99 to go after that one, or they're not going to make their way back. We have a ministry at Kingdom Builders that we partner with, it's called Free International. Free International does these big searches and we've had a number of our people in our church go on a big search in the Twin Cities as well as in Las Vegas where they search for trafficking victims and partner with local law enforcement and you've got to follow the play in that world or it's dangerous. And so they do that and they've rescued hundreds of people over the years, but the question was asked, Mike Bartel, the founder of Free International, how did you find them? How did you find them? And his answer is always this, we were looking for them. See the challenge isn't knowing that there's their loss, the challenge is are we looking for them. And in this particular story, we discover that God is looking for those people and not only is he looking for them, but his heart is to bring them home and it says he will joyfully carry it home on his shoulders.

There's a joy to that, there's that separate view of it, bringing them home. This is God's heart and it says in the text, he will call together his friends and neighbors saying rejoice with me because I have found my lost sheep. And I want you to see here that he includes others in the celebration. He wants them to experience it, he doesn't just bring the sheep home, he wants everybody else to enjoy this and celebrate because it's personal to him. He says I found my lost sheep. In the day and age where many people feel overlooked, unnoticed, not valuable, the time when it feels like in your family of origin you've been overlooked perhaps or forgotten. You want you to know, hear Jesus' story here, he sees you, you're valuable to him and he notices you. And he says in verse number 7, in the same way there is more joy in heaven over one lost sinner who repents and returns to God than over 99 others who are righteous and haven't straight away. Jesus directly challenges the complaints of the Pharisees that didn't like who Jesus was hanging out with. That one mattered to him even if it didn't matter to them. Amen? All right, let's go on to the second one. The lost coin, the lost coin, go ahead, Josiah. Her supposed woman has ten silver coins and loses one. Won't she light a lamp and sweep the entire house and search carefully until she finds it 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 in the same way there is joy in the presence of God's angels when even one sinner repents. Okay, so now we have the lost coin, ever said the lost coin and what sinner else is something as Jesus tells these stories it s getting more intense and more personal. And it's kind of narrowing in on the value aspect of it. Things are valuable to us. We will search for, I don't know how many of you

in your life have gone through losing a wedding ring. Anybody here ever lost a wedding ring? How about a cell phone? (laughs) That might be even more intense, right? And you hit the moment where you're like, "I don't know where it is." And people are well-meaning and they go, "Well, where's the last place you had it?" If I knew I would have it right now, this lost coin, things that are valuable, you'll stop everything else for and pursue. And in this story, Jesus describes the intensity of the one who is searching. You see, Jesus is describing really the heartbeat of God the Father. He isn't just acknowledging that there's someone who is lost. He is pursuing it, shutting everything else out, and the urgency super high. I've lost tickets to a game before, I've lost my keys before, and I had no way to get somewhere, and I didn't have the option of doing something else. I had to pay attention to this right now. Jesus is essentially saying, "It's not something you kick the hand down the road for." When it comes to people in your life who are lost, it's not something that you just kind of go, "Well, no big deal, we'll get that next year." Did you know that the people in your life who are lost,

maybe away from God, going through difficult things, and maybe they're under attack. While they're isolated, all of those people, did you know that God cares about them right now? There's no delay to heaven's pursuit of people who are lost. And Jesus is sharing the story, and he says, "I want you to have that same kind of intensity," and he says in verse number nine. And when she finds that, the coin, she will call in her friends and neighbors and say, "Rejoice with me because I have found my lost coin." In the same way, there is joy in the presence of God's angels when even one sinner repents. Now, this is a, you're seeing Jesus do this in the first story. Now, you're seeing it do it in the second story. He'll do it in the third as well. But he doesn't just bring that lost sheep home. He wants there to be a party. He wants them to celebrate. He wants it to be not just the one that found the sheep. He wants everybody to participate. This is why I love birthdays. Birthday parties are not about necessarily just the person who it's their birthday, but it's also about everybody else convening and getting together. And rhythms of that in families and friend groups are really important.

Did you know that both fasting and feasting are spiritual in the Bible? Why? Because he wants us to get together. We need each other. One of our production team members at Emmanuel, his name is Josh, and it's his birthday today. And I want the whole church to celebrate Josh's birthday with me today. You ready? ♪ Happy birthday to you ♪ ♪ Happy birthday to you ♪ ♪ Happy birthday dear Josh ♪ ♪ Happy birthday to you ♪ (audience applauding) See, that's what Jesus wants us to feel. That's exciting. We all come together. There's a unity to that, and Jesus wants that. Now, let's move on to the final story. This is a little bit longer one. Starting with verse 11, the lost sons. Go ahead, Josiah. To illustrate this point further, Jesus told them this story. A man had two sons. The younger son told his father, "I want my share of your estate now before you die." So his father agreed to divide his wealth between his sons. A few days later, this younger son packed up all his belongings

and moved to a distant land. And there he wasted all his money in wild living. About the time his money ran out, a great famine swept over the land, and he began to starve. He persuaded a local farmer to hire him, and the man sent him into his fields to feed the pigs. The young man became so hungry but no one gave him anything. When he finally came to his senses, he said to himself, "At home, even the hired servants have food enough to spare, and here I am dying of hunger." I will go home to my father and say, "Father, I've sinned against both heaven and you, and I am no longer worthy of being called your son. Please, take me on as a hired servant." So he returned home to his father, and while he was still a long way off, his father saw him coming. Filled with love and compassion, he ran to his son, embraced him, and kissed him. His son said to him, "Father, I've sinned against both heaven and you, and I am no longer worthy of being called your son." But his father said to the servants, "Quick, bring the finest robe in the house and put it on it. Get a ring for his finger and sandals for his feet, and kill the calf.

We've been fattening. We must celebrate with a feast, for this son of mine was dead, and now he was returned to life. He was lost, but now he's found. So the party began. Meanwhile, the older son was in the fields working, and when he returned home, he heard music and dancing in the house, and he asked one of the servants what was going on. "Your brother is back," he was told, "and your father has killed the fattened calf. We are celebrating because of his safe return." His older brother was angry and wouldn't go in. His father came out and begged him, but he replied, "All these years, I've slaved for you, and never once refused to do a single thing you told me to do, and in all that time, you never gave me even one young goat for a feast with my friends." Yet when the son of yours comes back after squandering your money on prostitutes, you celebrate by killing the fattened calf. His father said to him, "Look, dear son, you've always stayed by me, and everything I have is yours. 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." Amen to that. Amen to that.

Now we have here, yes, I love that story. Thank you, Josiah, the lost son. Now there's three people in this particular story that Jesus has his characters. He's got a father, and then he has two sons, one is the older son, and the other is the younger. Now in this particular story, Jesus is talking, he recognizes that there's something going on in the dynamic of the hearts of his two sons. First, the younger son. The younger son comes in and says, "I want my inheritance right now," which amounted to a disrespect of his father, a dishonorable thing. You get the father said, "Okay, I'm gonna give it to you." Usually it happens after I die, but I'll go ahead and give you your cut of the inheritance. So he takes it, and the younger son runs away. He ghosts his family, goes out and spends all of that money. And while he's spending the money, he's having fun, and he's not thinking about home. He's gone, he's left home. He's misusing the funds, misrepresenting the family name, all those kind of things, but it's not even bothering him. And at that point, of course, what he took, he took away from the rest of the family, took away from his father and from his brother, but he didn't care. In fact, as he went, he just spent it all. Now, I know this in everyone's life, all of our lives,

that there are times that God allows us to do what we want. And how many know it's not always the right choices? And so we go out and we think we know it's best, we think we know how to do this the best. We spend money, we spend time with people, we do whatever it is we want to do. And then the time comes when God says, all right, I'm done. And he runs out of money the younger son does, but something else happens. There's a famine that comes throughout the land. Now, in Jesus' story, the famine is also a part of the characters of the story, if you will, because it's the very conditions that cause the younger son did change in his heart. He's so stubborn doing his own thing, shutting people off, kind of calloused and not caring for anybody else, but now he loses everything and he gets a job on a farm with pigs, feeding them. it's not kosher to hang out with pigs. And here he is in the slop, and he sees the pigs eating better than he is, and those conditions cause the younger son who has been lost to turn in his heart and to repent. And it says there in the scripture that he finally came to his senses in verse 17. It was almost like the conditions caused him to wake up. I know in our church that there are many of you here that you had moments in your life where you kind of pushed away from everyone that loved you, all the good relationships,

but you reached the point where you're like, "I was wrong," and you came to your senses. Coming to your senses is an important moment where you stop running and then you begin the process of repentance, because when he hit that moment and he was humbled, he determined to go back to his house, go back to his father's house, not as a son, but as a servant. He's no longer gonna run away. He's gonna choose to go back, and it says in verse number 20. So he returned home to his father and while he was still a long way off, his father saw him coming filled with love and compassion, he ran to his son, embraced him and kissed him and his son said to him, "Father, I have sinned against both heaven and you, "and I'm no longer worthy of being called your son." This is a moment at which he humbled himself and he returned. I don't know how many of you remember that moment for you in your story, but when you turned and you humbled yourself, there was no longer blaming other people for the situation you're in. Always blaming, you know what? Everybody that goes through any form of addiction recovery discovers that they have to confront themselves because they're always blaming somebody else. But when you really reach the point

where you no longer blame anyone else, and sometimes that involves forgiving people, sometimes it involves forgiving yourself or whatever it may be. But when you reach that point where you turn and you say, "It's me, I own it." And you're not blaming anybody else, that's the day, that moment that you really begin to change. Doesn't happen before you hit that moment 'cause as long as you're blaming everybody else, you stay away from the father's house. But when you decide I'm going back and I'm gonna humble myself and whatever else happens, that's the moment real life change comes. And the most beautiful picture of God the father is revealed in this story. And remember Jesus is the one telling the story, right? So Jesus gives this picture and he saw his father coming. His father saw him coming, sorry. His father was on the farm, if you will, looking to the distance, looking for his son. He had a lot of son to leave the home, but his heart never left his son. He was ready for that moment when he was ready to return and come home and that son was coming home with his head down. Ready to just work on the farm and willing to apologize and to say I was wrong and to gonna eat his own story

and the father had a different picture. Jesus shows the father with great love in his heart, filled with love and compassion. The father was actually running towards his son. All the audience would have recognized that this was not an ordinary common thing for any elder and family. Somebody that was older would not undignify themselves by running because they could trip on their robe. And they wouldn't do that. They would wait for people to come to them. But Jesus' picture was one that the father was running towards them. Listen, I just love this picture because Jesus is showing the heartbeat of God and the lost people coming home. Some of us come from, we've done a lot of bad things. We've wandered off. Some people, bad things were done to you. And those things have kept you away and you're wondering if God the father sees you, he doesn't just see you, he's looking for you on the horizon, waiting for you to come home. Can I get any amen to that? And what does the father do? The father doesn't just give him a big old hug, but he puts a robe on him and puts the signet ring on his finger

and then he begins to invite him to come in and restore him. Not just to be a servant in the household, but restore everything into the family. And what does he say in verse number 24? For this son of mine was dead and is now returned to life. He was lost, but now he is found so the party began. This is the picture now, Jesus. Remember the story started with the one that left the 99 and then went to the lost coin. And each time he's saying the same thing, but now he gives the full picture of what it means to restore someone into the family. Over the years, being in the same church, I'm grateful that I've had the experience that people that once were in the youth group that I was a youth pastor for back in the 90s will come home to church and they're now in their 40s. They got their own kids and some of them even have grandkids. And I'll see them and they'll remember me as the youth pastor from J.C.'s place. And when they come in and they'll go, do you remember me? And I'll go, please take me back. 'Cause even if I did, they don't look like they did when they were teenagers. But they will share their story and their moment. And I will remember and I will say these words welcome home. Even if they're just visiting for a time, welcome home. This is the vision of the heartbeat of God for humanity. Not that you're good enough to get in the door,

but that you are a part of the family. Turn the person right and left and say welcome home. Welcome home. (audience murmuring) The younger son was lost, but now he is found. But let me get to the end of it and the point of Jesus' story all along. The key character in the story was the older brother. When this older brother finds out, his brother was being celebrated and restored. He is angry and he refuses to attend the banquet. And the father tries to talk him into coming, but the son refuses. And the words that come out of the son's mouth reveal what is in his heart. Did you know that in disappointment, our words reveal what is in our hearts? In verse 29, it says, "But he replied, "All these years I've slayed for you "and never once refused to do a single thing you told me. "And in all that time, you never gave even one young goat "for a feast with my friends. "Yet when this son of yours comes back "after squandering your money, "on prostitutes you celebrate by killing the fattened calf." What comes out the mouth reveals what's in the heart. This brother, this son, had held bitterness in his heart for years to the father. He was angry at the father. You blessed him and he squandered it all.

He held it on. And this son, this older son that Jesus is talking about has a faith that's more transactional. It's like karma and less Christianity. In karma, it's what goes around, comes around, but that's not Christianity. We deserve punishment and eternal death, but he gives us life. And so the kingdom of God is actually different than the world that is around us. This son had canceled his brother in his heart a long time ago. He says, "This son of yours." He doesn't say, "This brother of mine." In fact, he kept record of wrong, squandered the money and prostitutes and wild living. Completely opposite of the love of God. 1 Corinthians 13, love keeps no record of wrong. See, the older brother lived in the father's house, but lacked the father's heart. His father said to him, "Look, dear son, you have always stayed by me, and everything I have is yours." We had to celebrate this happy day for your brother, was dead and has come back to life. lost. And that is why this is not the lost son. This is the lost sons. They were both lost. One came home. One lived in the house, but was never home. You might be lost because you don't know any better. And you just kind of wandered off. You might be lost because someone lost you. You might be lost because you chose to run away. You might be lost because you lost the father's heart. Let me say this to you as a crowd, as Jesus would share his story. Let the shoe fit well, whoever that is. If you are the one that is lost and you're the older brother,

you need to come home to the father and ask the father for his heart. If you're the lost younger brother and you've been away no matter the circumstances, you need to know the father is waiting for you. Jesus says in Luke 19, 10, for the son of man came to seek and save those who are whether they're oblivious to it and playing at Legoland, how many people in our city don't even know they're lost. We need to pray. Now it's God to reach the people who don't know they're lost. And not only that, but we might need to be the people that go reach them, find them, per Jesus' story. He's seeking after you and you are invited to the party for those who are coming home. Run to him. He is running to you. Would you stand with me today? [MUSIC] Father, we thank you today that you are in this place. We thank you, Lord, that you are speaking to us. You shared stories for our sake to provoke us on the inside. And I pray, God, that you would you would provoke us today, that you would stir us, move us. And, Lord, awaken us, maybe even create urgency in us. May we value people the way you value people. May we receive your love because you valued us. Let it not stop there. We want your heart, your heart for people. Ice clothes heads bowed in here today. If you're here today and you're away from Jesus and you need a relationship with God, the heartbeat of the Father doesn't want to wait until the end of the service right now. But He wants to invite you to come home. Just come home. Come home in your heart. Come to your senses. Enough with it. Enough with the downwards spiral. Enough with all the havoc raking in your life. Enough with all of that. Why don't you just come home? Come home to the Father and see Him and know Him. Bible says there's many that call upon His name. They will be saved. If you need to give your life to Jesus right now, you need to come back to Him. I want you, I want to encourage you right now. Just give your life to Jesus. If that's you, you need to come to Jesus or you need to come back to Him. Just put your hand up right where you're at. Say, that's me. Yes, yes, yes, yes. Who else? Yes. Come on, be honest. The Father's looking at you right now. Yes, yes, yes. It doesn't matter how high you lift your hands. Some of you are like lifted up, belt high and others that you put away up in the air. It doesn't matter what height. You know in your heart, you need to come home to the Father. I want to lead you in a prayer right now and then we're going to worship together. But I don't want to miss this moment. You need to give your life to

Christ. The Father's looking at you. He's running towards you. He'll love you, embrace you and restore you into the family. But you've got to come into your senses. You need to repent. You need to turn turn to God to say I'm sorry, I ran my... So if you raise your hand or you wanted to, and you knew you could, or maybe you run online, you need to give your life to Christ. Right now, I want to lead you in a prayer. Just pray this out loud after me. I'll give you words to pray and everybody else you can join right in and say, "Jesus, thank you "for loving me so much that you came to the earth, "you died on the cross, you rose from the dead, "and I know that you're alive. "Today, I surrender to you. "Please forgive me of my sin and make me new. "I choose to turn and follow you for the rest of my life "in Jesus' name, amen, amen, amen."