Lost

This recording is from Christ Kingdom Church in Avalon Park, Orlando. Visit us online at ChristKingdom.org for our calendar, driving directions, and more audio recordings. Good morning. On September 22, 2004, a plane breaks apart in mid-air scattering survivors all over an unknown island in the South Pacific. 48 of these survivors, after the initial shock passes, attempt to start setting up camp and to try and figure out where they are. Days, weeks, months pass with no sign of rescue. They spend resources, ideas, time to no avail. They're lost. Maybe you've seen the show, hit show on ABC, lost, absolutely fascinating show. If you've only seen a few episodes, you know the premise that these plane crash survivors are stranded on an unknown island, waiting to be rescued, trying to figure out what to do in the meantime. Lost with no way to contact the outside world. In fact, the outside world doesn't even know that there have been any survivors to Oceanic Flight 815. Survivors are left stranded on this island, knowing that back home their friends and their family think that they're dead. Fascinating show. And they're wondering even to this day on the show, is anybody coming? Well, actually, I won't spoil it for you, but some things have happened. A true story, about eight years ago, my brother and two of his friends were out in the middle of Lake Toho in St. Cloud, riding jet skis. Late in the afternoon, and the jet ski started to run out of gas. And so, the three of them on this jet ski, and they had a brilliant idea, the jet ski probably wasn't going to make it back to the dock with all three of them. So, they decided to go ahead and have one of them take it back to fill it up while the other two waited in the water with life jackets on. So, my brother's friend, my brother was one of the ones who decided to wait hanging out in the middle of the lake, and his friend took the jet ski back, got gas, and the problem was by the time they got it back in the water, it would become too dark for him to be able to find my brother and his other friend. So, in the middle of a 12,000 acre lake, when the pitch black of night floated my brother and his friend, wondering if anybody was going to show up, scared to death. But more afraid than them was the gathering of people, the gathering of family and friends back at the dock, praying, hoping to hear something from the rescue team. Five hours later, more than enough time to get your fingers pruny, a rogue boat filled with delinquent but passionate church members who had been instructed not to take matters into their own hands, actually found them, and they were rescued. Maybe you've never been stranded on an unknown island, maybe you've never been lost at sea like my brother. Perhaps you know what it's like to feel lost. To feel lost in the dark, not knowing which direction will take you home. Maybe you've smacked up against the harsh realities of life and wondered, you know, what's this all about anyway? Why am I here in this world? Is there an end to the daily grind? Because I feel kind of lost. Maybe you've lived life wandering off and found yourself in an unknown place, and is there any hope of rescue? Is anybody coming? Turn your attention now to Luke 15 versus 1-7. And let's ask that question as we read this text together this morning, is anybody coming, verse 1? Now the text collectors and sinners were all gathering around to hear him. That's Jesus. But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, this man welcomed sinners and eats with them. Then Jesus told them, this parable, suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them, does he not leave the 99 in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and goes home. Vinnie calls his friends and neighbors together and says, rejoice with me. I have found my lost sheep. I tell you that in the same way, there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over 99 righteous persons who do not need to repent. This passage is the gospel in many ways. There are many passages that are the gospel, but this one is definitely one of them. And you know, it's a story about us in a lot of ways. The problem we have and the solution that God provides. Derek Webb, as a song called, crooked deep down. Good Lord, he says, I'm crooked deep down. Everyone is crooked deep down. You know, the Apostle Paul says something similar to the church. Church is in Rome when he says, all have turned away. All have together become worthless. There is no one who does good, not even one. Everyone is crooked deep down. That's the bad news. We're a mess. There's something terribly wrong with us. And it's sad and it's awful because the fact is we are created for something so wonderful and so glorious. Real intimacy, love, relationship, connection to our creator to God. But man, woman, and the rest of the earth fell and that first couple's sin in Genesis 3. Got ourselves lost. That's the bad news. Especially for that little part of you or big part, depending on who you are, that really still wants to make things work. Really still wants to figure out life, make it work for you. Today, I'm going to be a good person. I mean, how many of you have woken up and just kind of thought that? You know, today, dog on it, I'm going to be a good person. I'm going to do what's right today. I'm going to make it as long as somebody doesn't mess with me or drives slow in the left hand lane. When I've got somewhere to be or someone that I deal with doesn't royally mess something up and so then it makes my life harder. Dog on it, I'm going to be a good person. The bad news is you really can't or crooked, deep down. The good news though, there is good news. Though we're flawed as I'll get out, there is a love unlike any love that reaches out to take our hand and lead us home. There is one who is not lost. Never has been who is a friend to the lost. Is anyone coming? First point this morning, Jesus, friend to the lost, the divine mercy versus one and two. Now the tax collectors and sinners were all gathering around to hear him, but the Pharisees and teachers of the law muttered, this man welcomed sinners and eats with them. The bad news were crooked, deep down. The good news, it's us he's eating with. It's us Jesus is fellowshiping with. It's us he's hanging out with, isn't it fascinating? It's the people who are crooked to the core that Jesus spends a lot of his time walking this earth with. The tax collectors and the sinners. In this passage, we find two groups of people that are interacting with Jesus. The first group is the tax collector center group, who he's spending time with. Tax collector in this day, understand this, was like a curse word, okay? This isn't the IRS. Rome as a way of subjecting its colonies levied huge and crippling taxes. They siphoned off most of their income. This was a way to keep them economically dependent and poor. So the Jew who was collecting taxes for Rome was like a Frenchman cooperating with the Nazis in World War Two. Not well liked, despised by the people. Any Jew became a tax collector was selling his soul for the love of money, basically saying, I don't care about my community, I don't care about my people. I'm going to do what I want to do. The profession was literally used in name calling, be great to bring that back. Did you such a tax collector? Such a tax collector. Synagogues would not accept the alms of a tax collector. Their testimony was not received in Jewish courts. And sinners, on the other hand, were no better off as far as religious Jews were concerned. So they were either people too poor to follow the law and make temple visits or those who were hopelessly irreligious. And Jesus is eating with these people, presumably in one of their houses. The other group is the Pharisees. The religious leaders who are always trying to get the scoop on what Jesus is up to. Follow them around using their spider senses to be able to figure out where he is, where he's gone, and they found him, and now he's doing what he's been doing a lot of, eating with tax collectors and sinners, spending time with them. They, on the other hand, religious leaders, they would not even teach these kind of people, because they didn't want their righteousness to get contaminated by these people. They wouldn't even associate, and so they're like, look at Jesus eating, having a good time with these tax collectors and these sinners. Jesus, holy, holy, holy Jesus, God of the world incarnate is loving on and associating himself, befriending lost sinners. You know the differences between these two groups, between the Pharisees and the tax collector center group, well one of the differences, there are many. One is the way they use the word center. You want to know the test, see if somebody is a really religious person, God owes me kind of person, and somebody who really gets the gospel, really gets the message of grace. How do they use the word center? How do you use the word center? Look at Luke 18, 10 through 13. I think it's going to be up on the screen, you don't have to turn there if you don't want to. Says two men went up to the temple to pray, want a Pharisee, the other, a tax collector. The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself. God, I thank you that I'm not like other men, robbers, evil doers, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and I give a 10th of all I get. But the tax collector stood at the distance. He would not even look up to heaven but beat his breast and said, God, have mercy on me, a sinner. The Pharisee is saying, thank you, O Lord, that I'm not like this sinner. The tax collector is saying, have mercy on me, a sinner. And the movie Dead Man Walking, which isn't a movie for children, may not even be a movie for all of you adults. It's got some pretty graphic parts. But a really beautiful story lies in the center of this rated-ar movie, if that's possible. Sean Penn plays Matthew Poncella, I believe you want an Oscar for this, a murderer on Death Row. His crimes heinous acts against humanity that remind us truly how messed up and bad this world is and can be that we live in that's fallen into sin. Matthew Poncella asks the nun, sister Helen, to come and spend time with him during the last weeks of his life to talk with him. And she agrees and starts meeting with him and she actually starts to befriend him. They talk about really significant things and her heart starts to actually go out for this person. And one of the significant things and common things throughout the whole movie is that the keeps showing up is that people continually ask her what she's doing, going to a place like this with a person like this, her mom early on in the movie. Aren't there people in the neighborhood you could help? Honest people? But murderers, they're the end of the line kind of people. They're later asked her a parent of one of the victims. How can you sit with that scum? Matthew Poncella was God's mistake. One of the guards in the prison at one point asked her, what is a nun doing in a place like this? Knowing what this man has done. And he's asked, what is Jesus doing in a place like this? Knowing what these people have done. The answer? Jesus is a friend to the lost. A friend to the despised, the outcasts, the wicked, the lost. And that includes people like you and me. He's a friend of the lost. And secondly, he's a shepherd of the lost. Jesus, shepherd of the lost. Is anybody coming? Yes. Jesus, shepherd of the lost, the divine rescue mission. Look at verses three through six. Then Jesus told them this parable. Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Does he not leave the 99 in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and goes home. Jesus tells them a story about a shepherd and his sheep. A story that would have generated particular interest among these people. They're an agricultural people. But also spiritual interest because any Jewish person who grown up going to Jewish Sunday school, I'm not positive that's what they called it, or knew the law, you know, to some degree would have heard shepherd story about a shepherd sounds awfully familiar. King David was a shepherd. The Lord is my shepherd. And now Jesus tells them a story about another shepherd. This shepherd was in charge of a hundred sheep, which means the sheep owner who ever owned the sheep was probably fairly wealthy man to own a hundred sheep. And he wouldn't have just hired one shepherd. He probably would have had an assistant to the shepherd. So in the story, when Jesus leaves the 99 for the one, I don't think that it's as if he's leaving them to fin for themselves and wander off themselves and get lost. There's probably somebody there with them, but the point is that one lost sheep is a huge deal. One sheep goes missing and the shepherd stops everything he's doing, focuses all of his energy on finding that lost sheep. This was a good shepherd that Jesus talked about. The Pharisees were perfect examples of bad shepherds. The Ezekiel 34 talks about the religious leaders and the Pharisees. They were called to be shepherds of the great shepherd, under shepherds, underneath God the great shepherd. And they were doing a pretty awful job at it, considering they wouldn't even teach or associate with these kind of people. This is a sermon. You ever listen to a sermon from God and you think, is this for me? This feels like it's for me. I wonder if some of the shepherds might have been thinking, is this about us? Is he saying that we're not that great? Jesus is the good shepherd. It's a question he's answering here. He's the good shepherd who does not fail in his mission. Luke 1910 says, the son of man came to seek and save what was lost. Think about what this means for us. One lost sheep, a huge, huge deal. The shepherd stops everything. The researcher pours his energy into the task. He combs the valleys. He peers over the hilltops. Always calling, always seeking. The search is relentless. The shepherd cannot allow himself to rest. The lost must be found. The Lord of the universe who came as a seeking, suffering savior has come to us on a divine rescue mission, with the persistent will not be denied love of the Holy Spirit. If we go up to the heavens, as David talked about in Psalm 139, he's there. If we sleep in the deep, he's there. If we fly to the sun, he's there. The persistent, good shepherd seeking out the lost.

In Sheldon, Vinachan's autobiographical book, a severe mercy, fantastic book, he talks of a time before he was a Christian. When he was starting to look into a little bit more into the Bible and Christianity, his wife had become a Christian and so he decided he'd start doing some investigating. So he decided to write his favorite author, C.S. Lewis at the time. This was in the 50s and he'd loved his space trilogy and so he knew he was a Christian so he thought he'd ask him some questions and they'd become pinpals. They'd come friends via letters back and forth. At that point, in one of Lewis's letters to Sheldon, he writes, sounds like the Holy Spirit is after you. I doubt you'll get away. If you found Christ, you found him because he first found you. Something lost doesn't find itself. The lost sheep becomes bewildered and lays down waiting for the shepherd. We can't rescue ourselves in this life. We have to be rescued by him. I remember the story of my friend from college and his old, old dog. He told me he went home one weekend from college and he had forgotten one of the house rules with this old dog which is don't leave the sliding glass door open because the dog was deaf and blind and could fall into the pool out back and drown. He forgot the rule. He answered the phone. The next thing he knew, he'd left it open and he turned, he hung up and the dog was in the pool drowning. What was my friend going to do? Could he just go over to the side of the pool and say, do a little hand motion, signal to him? No, the dog was blind. He couldn't see anything. Could he call out? Come here, come to the side and then he could help him out. No, the dog was deaf. He had to jump into the pool, grab a hold of the dog himself, carry him to safety. In a lot of ways, we're like that deaf and blind dog. Crook you deep down with corrupt hearts that want to rebel against the God who made us. Without the savior jumping into the water to grab hold of us, we'll drown in this world. Without the shepherd seeking us out, finding us and carrying us back on his shoulders were lost, far, far from home. But if we allow ourselves to be picked up into his loving arms, to be rescued, then we can know a love that's unlike any else in this world. And even in the toughest of times, there's still joy. There's still joy to know that we're being carried home by the good shepherd. And that leads into the next point. The joy, well the joy is in Jesus rejoicing over the rescue. Jesus rejoices over the rescue, the divine celebration. Six and seven here. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, rejoice with me. I've found my lost sheep. I tell you that in the same way, there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over 99 righteous persons who do not need to repent. Jesus speaks of rejoicing over the rescued sheep. He talks about a party, a celebration. And as we've seen, Jesus is living out this parable as he tells it. As he talks about the shepherd who's seeking out the lost sheep, he is meeting with lost persons. He's meeting with the tax collectors and sinners. He's literally doing this as he tells the story. And in the same way as he talks about the celebration, everywhere he's going, you read in the Gospels, he has a habit of partying and celebrating with the wrong people. And this is really upsetting to the Pharisees. You know? I haven't you ever experienced this. You know, one person's party can really be your annoyance. The next door neighbor who parties till all hours of the night when you're trying to get some sleep. And the Pharisees are going, what's he doing? Celebrating and partying with these kind of people. It's driving them crazy. But the reality is that Jesus is saying, hey, the lost are being found. Not only is this worthy of celebration here, but all of heaven is rejoicing. The angels are joining in because people who have been deeply affected by the sin of this world, people with rebellious hearts are being changed, are being rescued. And that's a huge deal. Heaven thinks so. Sometimes we can think of God as so immense and impassable, transcendent and distant. This passage doesn't kind of stir up some different images of a God who's celebrating, laughing, hugging, congratulating. It's a party going on. Whether you knew it or not this morning, you came to a party. That's right. Here in Avalon Middle School. That's what this is. This is a celebration of the one who saves lost sheep. This is a celebration of the good shepherd who's coming to seek and save that which is lost. We're here to rejoice that the lost are being found and that we've been found. The question is, are you excited? Am I excited? That there's a message that reaches the lost. That there's a message that's reached my heart and yours if you're a Christian. Are we excited? Because Jesus is. And heaven is. If you're not a follower of Jesus, the harsh reality and it sounds exclusive because it is is your lost. And I say that not as someone condescending with, you know, bringing a harsh message down upon you from on high. Say that as a person who is lost in myself as well who needs to be found and still every day needs to be touched by the good shepherd. Maybe God is speaking to your heart this morning. Maybe he's calling out your name. Maybe he's seeking you. How will you respond? How will you respond? You know, one of the interesting things about the show lost is that over time, a few of the characters, quite a few now, actually begin to become pretty comfortable with being lost. Begin to really like the island. Some adamantly resist being rescued. They don't even want to leave the island. And maybe this morning you're thinking, you know, that's me. I, gosh, I feel lost. I don't know what this is all about. I don't know why I'm here. I don't know what the purpose of all this is. Sometimes I just feel like a hamster on its wheel just spinning in place, just using all of my pistons. But not really knowing where I'm headed or going anywhere. I just feel lost. But you know, Jesus, change. I don't know if I'm ready to be rescued. Let me encourage you. Talk with some people who have been found, who have been rescued, have been changed, and let them tell you their stories. Ask them to be honest. Maybe they'll tell you more about Jesus, about the story of Jesus, and how he's the only one who can sympathize with the lost. Our God, the God of Christianity, is the only God who can really connect with the lost because he was lost himself. He allowed himself to be cast away to be the outcast of the community. He allowed himself to be cast into death itself so that we wouldn't have to. He said, let me take the cup of suffering so that they won't have to. Send me to the island so that they can be rescued. Cover me with the cross so that they can be covered with my righteousness. The only friend to the lost, the only shepherd to the lost is Jesus. What does that mean for the people that you know if you're a Christian? What does that mean for your relationships with people who are not believers? What do you do with such good news? How do you just keep it tight and hold it in close and not really reach out to people? How do I do that for a torrentical question? I don't have an answer, but it's something we should really think hard about. Maybe you're a follower of Jesus, but you know there are still so many areas in your life that are lost that need to be rescued, that need to be redeemed by the Holy Spirit. I encourage you to pray during this upcoming time of communion and ask the Father, ask the good shepherd to seek your heart to bring up those areas for you that you can fully offer to him. The good shepherd is a friend to us, though we may be lost in rebellious. He seeks us out in his grace as a shepherd seeks after his sheep, and he rejoices along with us with choirs of heaven as every day he's bringing us closer to our true home. Let's pray. Jesus, thank you that you're here with us even this morning. You've come the valleys and peered over the hilltops and found me and others here this morning. Thank you that you are the good shepherd. Lord, this morning we want to give you our everything. We want to lay it at your feet, because we know that we can't make things happen on our own. We can't make life work on our own. We need your guidance and your power. And Lord, would you convict those of us that are followers of you, would you convict us, give us a burden for those who are not yet, that we would pray for them, Lord, that we would engage in relationships with them, that we would be confident to offer to them the one message that can save your gospel message. Thank you for that this morning in Jesus' name. Amen.