Jesus Seeks Out Sinners (Luke 15:1-10)

Hello, friends.

This is Pastor Creighton.

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Glory to you, Lord Christ.

Now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear Jesus.

And the Pharisees and the scribes grumbled, saying, This man receives sinners and eats with them.

So Jesus told them this parable.

And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Just so I tell you, there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents.

The gospel of the Lord.

Praise to you, Lord Christ.

Rejoice with me, for I have found that which was lost.

Let's pray.

Gracious Heavenly Father.

Would you give us a glimpse of your heart today?

Would you woo us to yourself?

Just that much more, Father.

Would we rest in your generous abundant wild grace towards even sinners like us?

It's in Jesus' name we pray.

Amen.

That's my sermon today.

It just came to me.

Um, I'm just so have you ever heard those words said?

Have you heard those words said to you?

Have you said those words to someone else?

I'm just so done with you.

Sometimes we hit our limit.

And when we hit our limit, our hearts have a way of flicking a switch what was on, it turns off what was open switches to closed.

We withdraw, we retreat, we're repulsed, we shrink away.

The way we were leaning in.

Sort of lean back.

I'm not here to preach a sermon today on setting boundaries and toxic relationships, where sometimes we need to be clear about what's healthy and what's not.

I guess I'm here to ask, what do we think about the heart of our father?

Do you think he ever says to us, I'm just so done with you?

Does he hit a limit?

Does his heart shrink back and withdraw?

Do we operate from a place of anxiety?

We're going to truly exhaust God's grace.

I know the Sunday school answer.

We all know the Sunday school answer, right?

We know God's grace is inexhaustible and we sing about it all the time.

Do we live there?

Do we operate there?

Sometimes I wonder if I in my own finite human way project my own insecurities and experiences on my heavenly father.

And I think he's just gonna hit that point where he's done with me.

Because how could he?

See, I think something of this regard for the Father, this idea that he can hit a limit, I think it's what's informing the Pharisees here in our passage in Luke 15.

We have a scene where Jesus is receiving tax collectors and sinners.

And tax collectors, the bottom line, are just regarded as the scum of the earth.

And sinners are those whose lives are just in no way reflecting the moral obligations of the law of God.

So if Jesus is in some way presenting himself as this respectable rabbi, it's like, what are you doing, man?

The Pharisees are like you're hanging out with the whole wrong crowd.

I wonder if the Pharisees have a sense in which God hits his limit with sinners.

He's just kind of done with them.

And he shrinks back and retreats from them.

And if that's what the heart of the Father does, shouldn't that isn't that what we should be doing as well?

If we're endeavoring to follow after God, if he shrinks back, shouldn't we shrink away from sinners too?

Shouldn't we get in some kind of holy huddle?

Pat ourselves on the back, congratulate ourselves for their great job we're doing.

Faithing real hard.

It's a remarkable thing, because Pharisees here are grumbling against Jesus.

This man, this man receives sinners.

He eats with them, he hangs out with them, he practices friendship with them.

This man.

And they grumble and they mumble and they shrink away in their own way.

But Jesus is the one rejoicing.

Isn't that a remarkable contrast?

What does this passage say about the heart of the Father?

I think it says this about God's heart.

God's own heart that he reveals to us in Christ.

God's very deepest heart joyfully seeks out and restores sinners.

Not sparingly.

It's not miserly with his grace.

It's not a matter of scarcity.

He's abundant and generous and forthcoming with his grace.

Jesus' own deepest heart joyfully seeks out and restores sinners.

And I think that's good news for us this morning.

Because it means Jesus is seeking out even you and I too.

And he's the one doing the seeking.

Now, if we're going to engage with a passage like this from Luke 15, we have to engage with this difficult word, sinner.

And it is a bit of a difficult word for us sometimes, a bit of a bitter pill.

And sometimes our most well-meaning psychology suggests that we ought to set a term like this aside, move forward and graduate from it.

But I think the Bible just makes no apologies for this term.

It just makes no apologies of this reality of sin.

That we've transgressed God's laws, that we've fallen short of the glory of God, as it were, that there is an alienation and an enmity apart from grace between us and the God we are created to have friendship with.

See, I think ejecting this category of sin risks ejecting this category of God's amazing grace.

Sometimes the church does a really good job at a thorough theology of sin, but stops short of a thorough theology of grace.

We talk about sins so we can put on display God's incredible generosity and heart towards us.

Jesus seeks out joyfully and restores sinners.

So sometimes, of course, we I mean maybe we've memorized Romans 3.23, for all have fallen short of the glory of God.

But we don't quote verse 24.

And all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.

When we engage honestly with this biblical category of sin, we're able to engage with this incredible category of God's generous grace.

And that is what this gospel reading is all about.

That's our hope.

So we know sin is this violation of God's law.

We see a prime example in our Exodus 32 reading.

That's an example that just gets burned in the consciousness of God's people, turning so uh wantonly, willfully towards uh worshiping an idol that they think they can trust more than they can trust the living God.

I mean, we might not put up a golden calf anytime from week to week, but we absolutely raise up idols in our hearts, don't we?

We absolutely put our trust in this or that, to bring us security or meaning or value into our life.

When we do, we step outside of friendship and fellowship with God and we become sinners.

But the good news is that Jesus joyfully seeks us out.

So we have these two parables this morning.

Um Luke 15.

There's a lost coin, or pardon me, a lost sheep, and then a lost coin.

There's also a lost son.

We're going to zoom in on the first two because that's where our lectionary has us this morning.

But these are three rapid-fire parables, all meant to reflect this incredible category of God's grace in seeking out and restoring sinners.

They're meant to give us a glimpse from different angles, as it were, this one incredible divine reality of God's heart towards you and I.

So let's talk about the sheep, verses 3 to 7.

If you've got your order of service, if you've got your Bible, please open with me to these verses.

Jesus gives an image, a sketch, of a shepherd taking care of sheep.

And if one sheep wanders off in the way that they do, he asks a rhetorical question, which of you wouldn't go after it, leaving the 99?

Now it's not necessarily that you're leaving them, you know, irresponsibly just in the middle of nowhere.

I think it's assumed there's a sense of a pen in the open country in which the sheep are kept secure and kept where they're supposed to be.

They're preserved by the shepherd's care, even while the shepherd is pursuing that one lost sheep.

When he finds that sheep, he brings it home.

And what does that shepherd say?

He says, This flipping sheep is driving me nuts.

Seriously.

Oh, I misread that.

I'm sorry.

Rejoice with me.

I found my sheep that was lost, and he gets his friends and he gets his neighbors to join in on this celebration.

His heart is lifted.

He delights in the fact that he's found this sheep, and I think it suggests to us that this very precious creature which was lost is now recovered, and that delights the heart of the shepherd.

And then he gives another reflection here, this lost coin, a woman's who has uh having ten silver coins, which I think, these coins are drachmas, it's it's uh it's kind of your standard fare for a day's labor.

I think for the purpose of this image, we're supposed to understand that these ten silver coins are not ten coins among the vast treasure she has in the bank.

I think these are her ten coins that sustain her life.

She's living, as it were, ten days at a time.

So having lost one coin, she lights a lamp and sweeps the house and searches diligently till she finds it.

So she doesn't delay.

She doesn't say, I'll get to it in the morning.

She lights a lamp.

She goes after it presently, diligently, purposefully.

I think it suggests to us this is a very precious treasure indeed.

And then having found it in the darkness, she rejoices, just like the shepherd.

She invites friends and neighbors into this celebration because this very precious treasure, which was lost to her, is now recovered.

All of this, I think, is telling us a few principles of God's heart towards those sinners that he fellowships with, that he eats with.

I think it tells us that sinners are very precious creatures indeed.

I think it tells us that sinners are precious treasures to God.

And that's hard to believe when sinners kind of drive us nuts sometimes.

The sinners we work with, the sinners who cut us off in traffic, right?

Those are precious sinners to God too.

I could go on, but you get my point.

Sinners are precious creatures, precious treasures, and God sees fit to seek these sinners out with grace.

God is on the pursuit in these images.

He's the one doing the seeking.

I remember I was at uh youth group or something.

Uh this would have been ages ago.

Well, relatively.

Um, and it was just it was just this moment that left a real impression.

I guess for what it was, it's hard not to leave a real impression.

But this youth leader asked for a volunteer, and that's always a dangerous thing to stick your hand up for.

But uh, but someone you know brave enough volunteered for for whatever this was doing.

The illustration is an illustration of grace.

He wanted to illustrate God's grace.

We have this idea, he says, of grace that, you know, if we do our best, God does the rest, right?

And and he says it's a little bit like uh, you know, that this view of grace is a little bit like if uh if your house is on fire, he says.

You know, when you're trapped in the top floor, and of course you called it a fire department, and they arrive, and sirens blazing, and then, you know, the the fireman gets out and he pulls out his bullhorn and he says, Okay, here's what I want you to do.

I want you to navigate your way through the fire safely.

And once you get on the outside, I'm gonna meet you with a blanket, and you know, you're gonna you're gonna be good.

But I I need you to come to me, right?

I mean, that's not what firemen do.

That's not their job.

What firemen do is they go into the blaze, don't they?

So this is where the volunteer comes in into play.

This youth leader is explaining.

He says, firemen go and they seek out that person who is otherwise helpless and they throw them on their back.

I'm not asking for a volunteer right now.

Throw them on the back and they march them out of that house and they place them in a place of safety.

That person is helpless on their own, but they've been saved, right?

This is God's grace at work.

God's grace does the pursuing, and that's exactly what the shepherd is doing for the sake of his sheep.

Did you notice that in verse 5?

The shepherd lays this sheep on his shoulders.

He doesn't coax the sheep over.

Come on, I've got some treats for you.

He seeks out that sheep, throws it on his shoulders, and brings it back to safety.

That's what God, that's the kind of pursuit God has for us sinners.

He seeks us out exactly where we are, throws us on his shoulders, and brings us into his kingdom.

What an incredible God.

What incredible grace.

What an assurance to know that there's nothing we can do to shake ourselves off of these strong shoulders of his.

God ventures into the darkness, as it were.

Not with delay, but to give us that light of life.

I think the cross is just the supreme example of this principle at play.

Didn't Jesus take on the very condition of our sin, our lostness, our death upon his very self?

Didn't he come to seek out and save the lost?

He plunges himself into the very condition of our alienation with God, so that we could have a restored and renewed relationship through his resurrection.

Jesus seeks out sinners.

He comes after us.

He throws us on his shoulders because he's the good shepherd.

God sees fit to seek out sinners with grace.

And here's the second thing I think these images tell us.

When sinners are recovered, God sees fit to rejoice.

This is an incredible thing.

Let's look at verses 7 and 10.

Jesus gives these images and then he gives the conclusion.

I tell you, there'll be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over the 99 righteous persons who need no repentance.

Which is maybe a strange way to phrase it here in our translation, but it is to say, God rejoices.

There is rejoicing in heaven when his merciful heart is put most fully on display.

I'm convinced that God delights over those who are keeping after God's righteousness and keeping in step with the Spirit and living the Christian life day to day.

I'm convinced that God does repent or rejoice over such Christians, living the life of repentance on an ongoing basis.

But we ought not to think that those are the only folks who qualify for God's rejoicing.

God rejoices to grab those sinners exactly where they are and throw them on his shoulders and bring them into the kingdom.

Where God's merciful heart is put on display, angels have a way of partying.

And we should join with them.

But it's not just the angels, notice, in verse 10, I tell you there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents.

What's the implication there?

I think that the implication is that God Himself is leading the party.

God is at the head of the celestial conga line, if you'll permit me to say that.

He is so celebrating the fact that these precious treasures of his have been recovered.

That he can't help but rejoice before the very angels who serve him in his glorious presence.

That is an incredible heart of grace towards sinners.

It's not miserly, oh, these sinners are driving me nuts.

Of course not.

He rejoices, he overflows.

His deepest heart joyfully seeks out and restores sinners, and that's good news for you and I.

If ever we've been inclined to think that when we are in, when we commit sin, when we've done that which displeases the Lord, that his heart shrinks away from us, he leans away, that he withdraws, that he's repulsed by us.

This is a word of good news, friends.

He wants to meet you exactly where you are.

He is seeking out sinners to make friends with.

That's you and I.

The fact that Jesus seeks out and restores sinners, I think opens up a few wonderful possibilities for us.

It opens up a life, a Christian life, characterized by repentance and renewal.

The Christian life is not a life of perfect, flawless moral superiority.

It's a life of ongoing dependence on God's generous grace towards us.

Here's a quote from a favorite author of mine, a preacher named Thomas Goodwin.

It's a little lengthy, but I think it's worth quoting in the full.

Does that surprise us right there?

What sins provoke in the heart of God?

Your very sins, he says, provoke him to pity more than anger.

Why?

Christ takes part with you and is so far from being provoked against you, as all his anger is turned upon your sin to ruin it.

Yes, his pity is increased the more towards you, even as the heart of a father is to a child that has a loathsome disease, or as one is to a member of the body that has leprosy.

He hates not the member, for it is his flesh, but the disease.

And that provokes him to pity the part of Affected all the more?

What shall not be turned to our advantage when our sins that are both against Christ and us shall be turned as motives to him to pity us all the more?

This word of pity we have to understand is God's outrageous, overflowing compassion towards us.

And what is Goodwin saying here?

He's saying, for those of us in Christ who are tempted to think that our sins repulse God away, we need to flip that around.

Jesus wants to meet us there because his heart goes out towards sinners.

And just like a just like a parent whose child is quite ill, you don't hate that child for being ill, you hate the illness afflicting the child because you want what's very best for that child.

That's God's heart towards us, sinners.

And so we see a wonderful example, I think, in Psalm 51, this unbelievable psalm of repentance and renewal.

In the context of David's horrendous sin against Bathsheba, against Uriah, this author is called out by the prophet Nathan, turns around to recognize he needs God's forgiveness.

But he comes to a place of assurance, knowing that God meets repentant sinners with his grace and restores them and renews them and transforms them in newness of life.

See, the Christian life is a life of renewal and repentance, a life where we can take confidence to come back to the Lord even when we've strayed.

Not because God is going to meet us with a miserly scarce, uh kind of scarcity like really again, but with an abundant and generous heart for us.

We have every reason to turn to him even in our sin.

And this is where I want us to land.

Jesus' deepest heart seeks out and restores sinners.

It leads to a life of repentance and renewal, but I also think it invites us to live that life where we ourselves imitate Christ in how we receive sinners.

In a way that the Pharisees grumble and are repulsed and shrink away from sinners, we who follow Christ are meant to be the salt of the earth and the light.

And we're meant to go into the nations and make disciples of all peoples.

We're meant to get rubbed into the very fabric of the world that we occupy.

Now we need to acknowledge an important difference here, and that's this: we're not Jesus.

If that wasn't obvious, we should probably note that.

So Paul in Galatians chapter 6 wants to remind the church that if someone is caught in sin, you who live by the Spirit should restore that person gently.

Galatians 6 · chapter mention

You shouldn't be repulsed, you should be moved towards that person in compassion.

But watch yourselves, lest you also may be tempted.

Receiving sinners is not for us an opportunity to engage all the more in sin that grace may abound, but to offer the very heart of Christ in mercy and compassion towards the sinner.

Let me quote again a favorite hero of mine, John Calvin.

Calvin writes of this passage, it is in the highest degree unreasonable that we should disdainfully reject those whom the Son of God has so highly esteemed.

And even if the weak labor under imperfections which may expose them to contempt, our pride is not on that account to be excused.

For we ought to esteem them not for the value of their virtues, but for the sake of Christ.

And he who will not conform himself to Christ's example is too saucy and proud.

Any quote that has the word saucy in it is worth quoting.

What's Calvin saying?

He's saying there is no excuse for pride or superiority or self-righteousness in the Christian life.

When we Christians regard ourselves as superior in one way or another to unbelievers, we have missed the mark of grace.

God esteems these sinners highly, so highly that he seeks them out.

Who are we to reject them?

Shouldn't we be those reaching out with the arms of Christ, as it were, to receive sinners, to eat with them, to share life with them, that they themselves may catch a glimpse of God's generous compassion and heart towards them?

Friends, God is far from repulsed.

By those of us who are in Christ, he is not repulsed from us.

He does not withdraw from us, but seeks us out, meets us where we are, because his deepest heart joyfully restores us, sinners.

Amen.

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May God bless you and keep you today and every day.