Pastor Slaughter

9-11-22

Pentecost 14

Text: Luke 15:1-10

Theme: Is It Worth It?

Is it worth it? Well it depends on what the “It” is. Let’s say you are walking down the rode and you look down and you see it. A nice shiny penny. Is it worth it to stoop down and pick it up and put it into your pocket? Your mind races to what your father taught you, “A penny saved is a penny earned.” So in that moment you bend over and pick it up because it is worth it. Even if it is only worth one cent, you are now one cent richer.

Now let’s change the circumstance. You walk out of the grocery store. You have one kid in the cart screaming. You are holding the hand of another. All while you are pushing a cart. Then you look down and spot it. A nice shiny penny. In the middle of the screams, and your other child pulling you in another direction and trying to push a cart. The words of your father come through “A penny saved is a penny earned.” But you walk over it because one cent is not worth the headache and the extra effort to grab it.

To one person it is worth it. To another it is not. In Luke chapter 15, we hear about the things that were lost… the lost sheep, the Lost coin, the Lost Son (Prodigal son). Today we are looking at the parable of the lost sheep and the lost coin. And as we look at it the question that pops out to me is, “Is it worth it?”

I think it is important for us to keep in the back of our minds who the audience is. We see the tax collectors and sinners who were coming to Jesus to hear him. And you have the Pharisees and experts in the law who were complaining, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them” (v. 2). Are the tax collectors and sinners worth Jesus time and energy, (the Pharisees and experts in the law don’t think so)? Are the Pharisees and experts in God’s law worth it? (Those who were lost but didn’t know it)

So Jesus told them the parable of a moderately wealthy man who owned 100 sheep. And one sheep wondered away. And Jesus says, “Which one of you, if you had one hundred sheep and lost one of them, would not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the one that was lost until he finds it?” The question Jesus gives expects a “Yes” answer. But would it be worth it? Would it be worth it to leave the flock of 99 and expose them to danger in the wilderness to go after the one that wondered off? I mean count your losses. Is it worth something happening to the 99 for the one?

Would you? I probably wouldn’t. It doesn’t seem to make much sense. It doesn’t seem to be wroth it.  The Pharisees in our lesson certainly wouldn’t. There are plenty of other sheep. Why bother going after the one that wondered away. They are going to get what they deserve.

But the shepherd is different. It is not even question for him. He goes in search of the lost sheep and carries him back on his shoulders. To him it was worth it. And he not only just carries him back but he invites his friends and neighbors and says, “Rejoice with me, because I have found my lost sheep!” And the same is true for the woman who lost her silver coin which was about a days wage. She searched and searched and when she found it she “calls together her friends and neighbors and says, ‘Rejoice with me, because I have found the lost coin.’” What did they do when they found the lost? They rejoiced! Was it worth it for them to make that effort and find what was lost? Yes!

This is so counter cultural to what the Pharisees thought. They were taught by Rabbi’s that there was joy before God when those provoke him perish from the world. Was it worth welcoming and eating with the tax collectors and sinners? Was it worth the effort to leave the 99? Or spend the time looking for that coin? No. But to Jesus it was worth more than we can even comprehend.

Jesus said, “I tell you, in the same way there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous people who do not need to repent.” You get the sense that Jesus is oozing with sarcasm. The Pharisees and the experts in the law were complaining and grumbling. They were thinking that they were righteous. It’s like Jesus is saying, “You seem to have this idea that you don’t need to repent. You think there is joy in heaven over you. There is not. There is joy in heaven over these sinners who repent, people I can share the love of God with and when God works faith in their heart there is party!”

Do you see the irony? The Pharisees who are listening and grumbling think they are found and are the people that God rejoices in but really are the people God is discussed with and are lost.

How terrible it is to be lost and not know you are lost! I really think this can be a danger for us. It’s not like the sheep intends to be lost but it happens one nibble at a time. One little sin, one missed Sunday turns into a month and then a year. One night out with friends, one mistake, a sin we want to hold on too and not repent. Are we worth it? Are we worth it when we are lost?.

But the real danger is that our natural lost condition manifest itself in our denial of that condition. Is there something that we are denying in our hearts that really shows that we are lost like the Pharisees and experts in the law?  It is difficult to hear that if we assume we are found like the pharisees, we will be left so that God can seek others. If we remain defiant in our self-righteousness we miss out on the assurance of knowing our God will always seek sinners no matter where they wandered. They miss out on the joy whenever on is found. So…are we worth it?

Was it worth it? Yes! Jesus does not leave us alone in our lostness. Instead he relentlessly seeks us. We see God’s willingness to go out and seek the lost and find his sheep. We see the hard work necessary to find the lost like the woman who was on her hands and knees looking for her coin. Ambrose said speaking on this lesson, “Let us rejoice that the sheep strayed in Adam, is lifted on Christ, the shoulders of Christ are the arms of the cross. There I lay down my sins. I rested on the neck of that noble yoke.” What powerful words! Were we worth all the work? To Jesus the answer is yes. So much so that he died for the lost.

Not only was it worth it but he also rejoices over it. Jesus said, “I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.” The angels rejoice when we repent! There is a party in heaven for the lost that are found! It is a day of celebration. It is a day of joy!

Jesus invites us and involves the rest of the Christian community in this seeking of the lost and rejoicing over the found. Those who know they were lost and were found by Jesus will share his love for other lost ones. They will share his zeal in seeking them and his joy in finding them.

To be a seeker is to go after the sinner who is lost. And it is all of our responsibilities. To go out seek those who have never heard about Jesus with Gods word. To seek those who have separated themselves from hearing the word of God by separating themselves from attending church. Those who have found themselves entrenched in a sin and refuse to repent need to hear that they are lost so that they can be found.

This isn’t easy work. It is hard. It will involve difficult and awkward conversations. People may not like to hear what we have to say like Pharisees and the tax collectors with Jesus. But we need to remember that it was worth it to Christ to seek us out and find us and it is worth it for us to go seek after others.

My family in Christ, if you doubt your worth to the Savior, if you doubt the worth of someone else to the savior think about this. I head a man who found a penny. He picked it up. A penny is only worth 1 cent. However it was an error coin. It was mined that went wrong. The A and M were too close together in the word, America. A coin collector paid over 20,000 for that penny. That 1 cent penny was worth over 20,000 dollars to someone else. You were worth seeking out and the price that Jesus was willing to pay Jesus death on the cross. The same is true for other people. Because we are worth it to Christ, let us go and seek the lost. Amen.