Why Would Anyone Come Looking For Me?|09.06.26|Transformed by Jesus, Together, for Others

We just moved, and my kids are constantly misplacing things in our new house, because we’re all out of sorts, and so it seems like every single day we have at least one search and rescue mission to find the lost toy, or stuffed animal, or shoes.

And I was thinking about the fact that when you lose something, your focus and your attention and your energy go fully into finding that thing.

And when that thing is a valuable thing… even more so! I remember when we had a new baby at home, and Megan’s body was regulating after giving birth, and her swollen hands were returning to normal, and her wedding ring fell right off her finger one day, standing there in the middle of our living room.

And I heard it clink on the floor. Immediately, I go into searching mode to retrieve it from where it bounced.

Because if you lose something that is important to you, it’s not like you just calmly move on with your day. No, your attention hones in on what was lost. Your brain feels a heightened sense of urgency. You can’t really think of anything else, because you NEED to search for what was lost.

Now, imagine that the missing thing isn’t a THING at all, it’s a person.

Because if a person in your family went missing…everything would stop. You’d be searching everywhere. You’d be enlisting your friends and the authorities. There would be posters put up, phone calls, social media posts, driving around town in search. You move heaven and earth to find them!

Because you love them. And love wouldn’t let you ignore the fact that they are missing. Love would compel you to search for them, find them, and bring them home.

Losing a thing creates urgency, but losing a person changes your life.

And this whole year, we’ve been talking about how this is the heart of Jesus, who seeks out those who are lost because of his love for them.

In fact, we’ve spent over a year talking about how to pray for and show love to our Ones, the people who are close to us but who feel far from God. And then back in January, we actually made it a church-wide focus for this whole year, committing to be regularly asking God to help us join him in his work of reaching the people who are on our hearts.

[each one]

And now, it’s becoming a core value for who we are as a church: Each One Reach One. Because we believe that Jesus’ mission is personal. Jesus’ mission is MY mission. And it’s YOUR mission. Because God wants to reach the people around us… through US!

And when we came into the family of God through the saving work of Jesus, we joined the family mission: to point people to Jesus and help them learn to follow him, even as we are still learning.

And even though this is a special focus for us this year, it’s not something we’re going to move past after New Year’s, because this heart to go searching for the lost One comes straight from Jesus.

That’s why this year, we’re encouraging everyone who is a part of New Life to name their One. Who’s your One? The One that is close to you, but who feels far from God, that God keeps putting on your heart to pray for and connect with and show love to?

We’re not expected to reach hundreds or dozens. Just one. Because God notices the One who is missing, and he loves to work through US (one at a time) to reach one at a time, because his love is personal and specific that way.

[Scripture Ref]

And when Jesus explained his heart for people who were far from God, he didn’t tell a story about crowds… he told a story about One lost sheep. So open your Bibles with me to a passage I’ve preached through before: Luke 15 (p59).

And as you’re finding it, this joins Jesus in a point of his ministry when he’s already gotten a bit of a reputation for being a wise teacher of the Scriptures, and being able to help and heal people in a way that makes many believe “he’s definitely been sent from God.”

And in this interaction, there are two groups of people who are present. There’s the tax collectors and sinners (and we’ll discuss what the text means by that description), but they are LEANING IN.

And the second group is the Pharisees and the scribes, and they are GRUMBLING, saying “this man WELCOMES sinners and eats with them.”

And then we’re going to see Jesus respond because he overhears them. So as we read this parable, understand that it’s not some abstract metaphor. This is Jesus’ direct response to criticism about who he loves. So let’s RISE…

[Luke 15:1-7]

[Luke 15:1-2]

So there are two groups of people who are listening to Jesus, and we get to see who’s LEANING IN to be near to him, and who’s just standing around to be angry.

And surprise, it’s the “tax collectors and sinners” who want to be near him. Now, I don’t know what pops into your head when you think of “tax collectors and sinners.”

When I was a kid, I thought tax collectors wore ties and worked for the IRS and “sinners” were clearly cartoonish “bad guys” who drank too much and robbed people at knife point.

In either case, my imagination of this group was specific enough to make me feel like I was definitely NOT like them!

And interestingly enough, that idea of being separated from this group is mostly what the original Greek word is trying to communicate. The word that is translated as “sinner” in English has this definition: ‘irreligious, unobservant people, outsiders… those who did not observe the Jewish Law in detail and therefore were shunned by [people who did].’

It usually refers to people who are considered an OUTSIDER because of failure to conform to certain religious standards. And sometimes, the word was just used to describe non-Israelites, because they were definitely OUTSIDERS.

So when I was imagining whatever “bad guy” I could think up in order to imagine someone who was “other” than me, an OUTSIDER to my group, that’s exactly what this word is trying to describe.

The types of people that are leaning IN to learn from Jesus are the outsiders, the “unclean” ones, the ones with the wrong type of job, the ones with the wrong type of upbringing, the ones with the wrong type of behavior or morals.

These are the people that the religious leaders would have said, “they don’t belong.” But here, Jesus WELCOMES them. Eats with them. Jesus isn’t just TOLERATING these outsiders who don’t belong, he’s fellowshiping with them.

[Luke 15:4]

And the religious leaders are grumbling about that, but Jesus can hear them, so he responds with this now famous parable. But notice how he starts, “which one of YOU…”

Jesus is making this PERSONAL. He’s not talking about some abstract shepherd. He’s talking about YOU. And he’s inviting you to imagine with him a scenario where something that is very precious to you goes missing.

And all of us know what it feels like when we care about something that was ours, but now it’s MISSING. It was right here! But now it’s gone! I turned around for one second, and now it’s lost!

You don’t feel that way when something random goes missing. If I told you that I lost my favorite pair of glasses, you might feel sympathetic, but it’s not connected to YOU. It’s not YOUR glasses, so you don’t feel the same urgency.

And even more so, if I said that there was a field mouse that had gotten in the church, but then it ran off out the door and we lost it again… you’d probably say, “Good! That vermin shouldn’t have been in here to begin with!”

And that’s actually closer to what the religious leaders were feeling at the beginning of our passage. Because they look at Jesus, this teacher and healer and someone who is clearly from God… but he’s spending waaaaay too much time with these sinners, these OUTSIDERS.

Because they assumed the sinners were people who didn’t belong with them, outsiders who were trying to edge their way in.

But Jesus tells a story that flips that around and makes it personal. The missing sheep isn’t a stranger, it’s not an outsider… it’s someone who belongs to me… it’s MINE. “Suppose one of YOU had a sheep that went missing…how natural it is to go searching for YOUR precious sheep?”

[Luke 15:5]

And then when you find your missing precious lost one, there’s no scolding. There’s no lecture. No punishment. The shepherd in our parable didn’t yell or kick or use a whip to hurry up the sheep back home.

No, he tenderly picks it up, lays it on his shoulders, and CARRIES it back home. This is exactly what the Apostle Paul talks about in Romans ch 2 when he says “it’s God’s KINDNESS that leads us to repentance.”

If my kid goes missing, or runs into the street, when I get them back, I might feel like telling them never to run off again because of how scared I was, but the biggest feeling I’m experiencing is relief and joy because the one I LOVE is safe again in my arms.

Because they were LOST. Not just misplaced. Not just confused. They were lost out in the wilderness. There’s no highway traffic that will find them and help them get to safety. They’re out past the trail with no one coming.

So when I find them, I’m going to REJOICE.

[Luke 15:6]

And I’m probably going to make sure that everyone around me can rejoice with me. Just like the shepherd in this story (which, remember, is about YOU)... Jesus is saying “isn’t it the most natural thing to feel joy when you find something that was precious to you that was lost?”

And isn’t it the most natural thing, when you’re feeling joy and gratitude that your lost loved one has been found, isn’t it normal and GOOD to want to share that joy with others! “Rejoice with me! …for I have found MY lost one.”

It’s personal to me. It’s important to me. It was lost, and now it’s found, and I’m so grateful!

[Luke 15:7]

And this isn’t just a fun little story about a wandering sheep. This is what happens in Heaven. Heaven ERUPTS with rejoicing when One lost person is found and returned home.

When one sinner — an outsider, a moral failure, an impure person who doesn’t belong — when one sinner repents (turns back to God, returns home, reunites with the family of God)... when one sinner repents, it results in more rejoicing in heaven than over the 99 “upright/righteous” ones who don’t need repentance, who don’t need to turn back.

And “more” rejoicing doesn’t mean that there ISN’T rejoicing over the 99. Jesus isn’t saying the 99 don’t matter. He’s just showing the extravagance of love and joy that is poured out when a “lost” One becomes a “found” one.

We know what this feels like. We know that reuniting with something or someone that has been missing always brings extra joy. And Jesus even tells two more stories in this chapter about a lost coin and a lost son to illustrate this more.

Because we know that there’s nothing quite as lonely as being lost. There’s nothing quite as scary or sad as losing someone.

[blank]

Jesus makes this story personal because it’s about YOU. It’s about ME. Because I was once a lost one. Lost in my doubts. Lost in my apathy.

Lost in my distraction of climbing the corporate ladder.

Lost in my secret hidden addictions.

Lost in my self-sufficiency, trying to earn my place with God and with others.

I was once a lost one. And none of that made me too far gone for God. Because Jesus is the good shepherd who leaves the ninety-nine in search of the lost one.

Because, for Jesus, it IS a life-and-death matter! He doesn’t want to leave us languishing and lost out in the wilderness. He doesn’t want to leave us alone out on the trail with no hope of rescue.

He came to seek and save the lost! And I was his One! He came and found me and picked me up and put me over his shoulders. I was his One, and even when I was lost, even when the hope was gone, even when I was dead in my sin, he carried me home, rejoicing.

I was his One first. And he saved me. And you’re his One, too. And his saving grace is for you. And that’s why his mission gets to be our mission.

[Jesus’ mission]

As we are rescued and restored back into his family, we get to be a part of the mission to reach out to our Ones. Because Jesus’ mission is MY mission. Repeat after me: Jesus’ mission… is MY mission.

Each One Reach One, because each one of us knows someone who is close to us, but who feels far from God. And part of our growth as a member of God’s family, part of our discipleship as followers of Jesus is to join him in his work!

And Jesus wants us to connect with his mission on a personal level. The people who are far from him aren’t just random faces in a crowd. They’re not just random “groups” out in the Sauk Valley.

That’s why we need to remember that Jesus’ mission becomes personal when I give it a name. Because Jesus isn’t asking us to reach strangers, or crowds, or unknown generic “people out there.”

He’s asking us to reach our One. The one that is close to you but who feels far from God.

Because it’s personal. It’s connected to our love. And when someone we love is missing… love won’t let us stay heartless.

Love creates urgency. Love acts immediately. Love searches. Love MOVES.

And Jesus’ mission to reach those who are far from him becomes personal when I give it a name. When I name MY ONE. When I realize that God wants to reach someone I care about. When I realize that he loves them too and he’s been pursuing them this whole time, and he actually is inviting ME to be a part of his search team.

[blank]

And I don’t have to wait until I’ve “arrived” in my faith somehow. I don’t have to wait until I’ve cleaned up my life enough or fixed myself enough. All of us are invited into this family mission even while we’re still learning what it means to be in this family.

We’re each just one thirsty soul telling another thirsty soul where to find the fresh, living water.

Jesus’ mission is MY mission, because it’s personal. But I don’t save anyone. You don’t save anyone. We seek. We invite. We point to Jesus, because Jesus saves.

We’re not responsible for changing people. God’s the one that does the transforming. We’re just responsible for loving them and constantly pointing to Jesus every chance we get.

So who is your One? Maybe you have more than one face coming to mind right now. And that’s great! I’m sure you actually know more than a few people who are close to you, but who feel far from God.

That neighbor you’ve built a little bit of a relationship with. That coworker you talk to most days.

Who are your Ones? I want you to name them and keep them on your mind often, asking God to give you his heart for them, his eyes for them, his urgency for them.

[Create a reminder]

He’s the driving force behind reaching them, but he wants to involve you in his mission. So I think a great way for us to join Jesus in his work this week is to create a reminder to pray for your One and reach out to your One this week.

We made these bracelets that say “For My One” back in January. We have extras out in the atrium if you didn’t grab one back then, but maybe you need to put it somewhere you’ll see it every day, because it will remind you to be praying for my one… to look for ways to BLESS my one… to try to reach out to my one…

Or maybe you just need to put a simple alarm on your phone to pause and pray for your Ones at lunch sometime each week. Create a reminder that works for you. And then take an intentional step toward them this week. One simple action.

Maybe you send them a text. Maybe you meet for coffee. Maybe you invite them to sit with you at church.

[END]

This isn’t a HAVE-TO. This is a GET-TO. We GET to join Jesus in his mission, because he never gives up on the people he loves. We GET to share his love, because he’s poured out his love for US already, and because he’s chosen to work through us!

We GET-TO reach out to our Ones, because we were Jesus’ One first. We were his beloved children who were lost. And when you lose something you love, you move heaven and earth to find it again.

That’s what Jesus did for you. He loved you first. He moved toward you first. He picked you up, carried you home, reunited you with his family.

And now, Jesus’ mission is OUR mission, because his love and grace have been given to us so abundantly that it can now overflow out of us to others.

Isn’t that good news?