Luke 15.1-10

At least once a week, we end up on a chaotic mission to find some lost item in our house.  Whether it is a cell phone, the remote control for the TV, a set of car keys, or a wallet, an all hands on deck search party is formed and sent into action.

The pillows and cushions come off the couches and chairs.

Back packs and purses are emptied onto the floor. 

Flashlights are used to look under pieces of furniture.

The “Find My Phone,” or, “Find My Keys,” App is opened to send beeps and rings and dings to the devices that are connected to them.

All of this happens alongside a full scale interrogation of everyone home at the moment to ask as many questions as possible in an attempt to figure out who had the item last and where it was last used.

Knowing that something of value is missing makes us upset and often no rest can be had until the item is found and secured.

In this morning’s Biblical text we hear about a lost item and the owner of that lost item who searched and searched and searched relentlessly until the item was found and secured.

Let’s hear from Luke 15.1-10 now.

Luke 15:1–10 says this:

[1] Now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear him. [2] And the Pharisees and the scribes grumbled, saying, “This man receives sinners and eats with them.”

[3] So he told them this parable: [4] “What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open country, and go after the one that is lost, until he finds it? [5] And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. [6] And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.’ [7] Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.

[8] “Or what woman, having ten silver coins, if she loses one coin, does not light a lamp and sweep the house and seek diligently until she finds it? [9] And when she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I had lost.’ [10] Just so, I tell you, there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents.” (ESV)

At the beginning of this text, we are told that the Pharisees, who were the religious leaders in Jesus’ day, were trying to discredit the work of God that Jesus was doing by pointing out that Jesus was doing something that they would never do—purposely spending time with people who didn’t have faith in God, people who were different than them.

Jesus’ response to their accusation is to tell the self-righteous religious leaders two parables that make the point, “You’re darn right! I love hanging out with those that don’t believe in God. And, you know what? I won’t stop!”

But, Jesus doesn’t just hang out with those that are known for their godless living and lack of faith simply for a good time.  

Earlier in this book of Luke, Jesus tells us the good news of exactly why he befriends sinners when a similar accusation is made.  Jesus says that he seeks out those who don’t know that they are loved by God because, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.  I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance” (Luke 5.31).

In the Old Testament portion of the Bible, we see Joseph’s jealous brothers sell him into slavery to get him out of the family home.  However, through this event, God enables Joseph to become second in command of Egypt and gives Joseph the wisdom to save the people of the nation from starvation during a famine.

That is why many years later Joseph could ultimately say to his brothers, “you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today” (Genesis 50.20).

Jesus could say the same thing to the Pharisees in this morning’s encounter.

The Pharisees meant their statement for evil.  When they say, “This man receives sinners and eats with them,” they are attempting to incite they fellow Jews to erupt in hate and anger in order to get rid of Jesus by whatever means necessary.

However, those of us that know the truth of our Sin and our inability to always do the things God wants us to do, we rejoice in hearing that in Jesus, God makes friends with those who are ungodly. 

Personally, I find great comfort in the statement, “this man [Jesus] receives sinners and eats with them.”  I know and have full confidence in the truth that it is only because of God’s love for me in the rescue mission of Jesus that I will be received by God and called a friend of God in this life and the next.

What the Pharisees meant to point out as the evil of Jesus was actually the good of God at work for sinners like me and you.

In 1 Timothy 1:12–15, the apostle Paul tells us about the good work of God for sinners like him, me, and you, when he says this:

[12] I thank him who has given me strength, Christ Jesus our Lord, because he judged me faithful, appointing me to his service, [13] though formerly I was a blasphemer, persecutor, and insolent opponent. But I received mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief, [14] and the grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. [15] The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost. (ESV)

With both stories that Jesus tells us this morning, the common denominator is that the sheep and the coin are unable to find their way back to their owner.  But, the owners of both the sheep and the coin are willing to go whatever it takes to find the lost item.

Sheep are notorious for being unintelligent and wandering away, so unaware of their surroundings that they sometimes they would walk right off a cliff to their death.  The only way for them to find safety and security once they wandered away was for their Shepherd to search for them and rescue them.

This is what Jesus does for me and you.

We are sinners who willingly chose to wander away from God because we think there is something better out in the world around us.  Because of the corruption of our hearts that Sin causes, we are separated from God and lost. In Sin, it is impossible for us to earn God’s love.  

However, the good news for you this morning is that God does not abandon you to your foolish wandering away.  God loves you and God loves looking for you and God celebrates when He finds you and you confess your Sin to Him and repent. 

In the case of the woman and the coin, the coin that is lost is lifeless.  It can do absolutely nothing to make its way back into the possession of it’s owner.  The same is true for me and you in Sin.  In Sin, we are labeled dead.  We are completely lifeless and powerless and can do absolutely nothing to make our way back into the possession of our owner, our Creator and Father in Heaven.

However, the good news for you this morning is that God considers you valuable and won’t stop searching for you until He finds you and you are back in His possession labeled one of His children.  

Back in 2022, when a tornado hit Lamar County, Texas, Dakota Hudson and Lauren Patterson feared they would not survive. Hudson said, “We could feel the house start lifting up around us. We could hear the creaking and breaking.”

When the couple emerged from their bathroom, everything around them was destroyed, including their home, a family member’s house next door, and all their neighbors’ homes. Hudson said, “God had his hand over our entire community. Looking at this destruction it’s hard to fathom how anyone could survive it.”

As the couple began checking on neighbors and learned everyone was physically OK, Hudson realized the engagement ring he’d just purchased to surprise Patterson was lost in the debris. He said, “Needle in a haystack doesn’t come close to what we were looking for.”

That is until the Paris Junior College softball team stopped by the property to offer help cleaning up. Once the team heard about the missing ring, they got to work. Outfielder Kate Rainey said, “I basically made my mind up. I was going to find the ring.” Rainey and her teammates searched for hours until she spotted a little miracle buried in the mud.

Though it wasn’t the proposal he had planned, Hudson decided there was no better moment to pop the question. Covered in mud, he dropped to one knee, surrounded by debris and with a team of softball players cheering him on. “We’re safe. We’re here. Everybody’s alright. It’s a miracle the ring was found. What better time to do it?” Hudson said. Patterson said “yes” immediately. “This was the light in a very dark moment. And it is still a dark moment, but this has given us reason to breathe and smile a little.”

Ezekiel 34:11–12, 16 tell us this:

[11] “For thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I, I myself will search for my sheep and will seek them out. [12] As a shepherd seeks out his flock when he is among his sheep that have been scattered, so will I seek out my sheep, and I will rescue them from all places where they have been scattered on a day of clouds and darkness…[16] I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the injured, and I will strengthen the weak, and the fat and the strong I will destroy. I will feed them in justice. (ESV)

And, Isaiah 40:11 tells us this about God:

[11] [God] will tend his flock like a shepherd;

he will gather the lambs in his arms;

he will carry them in his bosom,

and gently lead those that are with young. (ESV)

Because of God’s great love for you, God made up His mind the very second Sin entered the human experience; God was going to find you.  God was willing to do whatever it took to find you, rescue you, forgive you, and restore you into His forever Kingdom.

And what God was willing to do was to come and search for you and rescue you, and forgive you, and restore you to His forever Kingdom through His own death through the person of Jesus Christ.  

Did you hear that?  God was willing to enter into this world to come and find you and save you through dying on the cross to be the perfect sin-forgiving sacrifice that could restore you into a right relationship with God, your Creator.

The point of all of this is very simple.  We are lost sinners and our loving God searches for us until He finds us and then He celebrates with a party in Heaven.

The Roman Christian Poet, Prudentius, who lived in the second half of the 4th Century A.D., wrote these beautiful comforting words:

When one ailing sheep lags behind the others

And loses itself in the sylvan mazes,

Tearing its white fleece on the thorns and briers, 

Sharp in the brambles,

Unwearied the Shepherd, that lost one seeking,

Drives away the wolves and on his strong shoulders

Brings it home again to the fold’s safekeeping,

Healed and unsullied.

He brings it back to green fields and meadows,

Where no thorn bush waves with its cruel prickles,

Where no shaggy thistle arms trembling branches

With its tough briars.

But where palm trees grow in the open woodland, 

Where the lush grass bends its green leaves, 

And laurels

Shade the glassy streamlet of living water

Ceaselessly flowing.

The song writer who penned Psalm 119:176 wrote this lyric about his Sin and his need for God to find him and forgive him and make him safe in Heaven forever:

[176] I have gone astray like a lost sheep; seek your servant… (ESV)

This morning and every morning, Jesus comes to find you and bring you home to God your Father in Heaven.  Repent of your Sin and listen to the rejoicing of Jesus the Son, God the Father, and the angels in Heaven who are excited because you who were once lost have now been found. 

This is the Word of God for you today.

This is the Grace of God for you today.

Amen.

Reverend Fred Scragg V.

September 14, 2025.

Prayer:

Lord Jesus,

You are the Good Shepherd, without whom nothing is secure.  Rescue and preserve us that we may not be lost forever but follow You, rejoicing in the way that leads to eternal life; for You live and reign with the Father and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever, Amen.