Trinity 3 – Sunday of the Lost Sheep, Lost Coin, and Lost Sons June 17, 2018
Trinity 3 – The Sunday of the Lost Sheep, Lost Coin, and Lost Sons
Luke 15:1-32
June 17, 2018
“No Throw-Away People”
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
In the last month or so I’ve been around quite a bit of stuff being tossed out or thrown away. I guess it’s spring cleaning time of year. We cleaned out a bunch of stuff from our garage a few weeks ago. Some to the dumpster. Some to metal recycling. A treadmill that didn’t work anymore. An old dishwasher. Microwave. Then our church had the big garage sale out here. Wow! Did all of you have a lot of stuff to get rid of?! Lots of clothes. Lot of household items. You name it. And we took a big load of it to the thrift store when we were done. And now I’ve got a load of electronics waiting to go to recycling. Old computer towers. A laptop. A copier.
And you all know that’s kinda the world we Americans live in right now. We’re largely a throw-away society. Something breaks—you toss it out and get a new one. We don’t have as much time anymore for old junk that doesn’t work the way we want. Give it up to somebody else or throw it away. It’s not worth it.
And yet there’s still those odd people out there—those antiquers and thrift-store junkies—that’ll take one man’s trash and turn it into treasure. Well, you and I had better thank God that when it comes to people, God doesn’t throw away anyone. In fact, He likes to dig us out of the dumpster all the time. He likes to lift us out of the trash heap. And save us from the landfill.
How many times could God just toss you out and forget about you? After all, that’s what we often do with other people. They’re a lost cause, we say. Something’s the matter with him or her. I don’t think there’s any hope for them. They’ve really made a mess of their lives. It’s a shame. I’ve really given up on him. On her.
That’s what God ought to say with you and me. We’re obviously broken. He’s always having to fix us. There’s got to be days where God looks at me and says, “I’m tired of messing around with him all the time. He never does what he’s supposed to do. He’s such a mercy pit. I keep dumping more and more mercy into him all the time and it doesn’t seem like he ever gets much better. I’m done with him. Let the devil have that one.”
Are there such people as “throw-away people” for God? People that God just gives up on? People He tosses to the curb?
The Pharisees and the scribes thought there were definitely throw-away people. People that God didn’t care about anymore. Tax collectors, prostitutes, Samaritans, sinners. They were the refuse of the earth. Lost causes. The dregs of society. And how offended were the Pharisees when Jesus eats with poor sinner trash?! It was disgusting. If Jesus were really a prophet, He’d know much better. If Jesus really came from God, He wouldn’t hang around with a bunch of throw-away people.
And this is why we get today three different parables about lost people. About lost causes. About throw-away people. About people that God rescues from the landfill. Because the truth is that God doesn’t know of any such thing as throw-away people. To God, it’s never a lost cause. It’s only a cause that needs to be found. It’s only a sinner who needs repentance and faith. It’s only a sinner who needs Jesus. Throw-away people are exactly the people that Jesus came down to earth to find and rescue.
The one lost sheep. If you’ve got a hundred sheep and one of them goes missing, that’s a throw-away sheep. You don’t leave all the other 99 by themselves to go after just one little sheep. That’s not very good Shepherding. That one lost sheep is a troublemaker anyway. He always gets lost. Such a nuisance that one is. Just let him go. Leave him to the wolves. Let him be somebody else’s problem.
But no. Not the Good Shepherd. I’ll speak to some of you fathers out there on this Father’s Day. Some of you are really good fathers. Cream of the crop. But most of you are like me. You’re lost fathers and husbands. You set bad examples. You don’t practice what you preach. You’re selfish and don’t give enough time to your wife and children. You’ve been really poor at praying with your kids and teaching them the Bible. And you have to hide some of your worst sins from all them.
Has God given up on you? Are you a lost cause? Trash to be thrown out? No. The Good Shepherd doesn’t know of such a thing. You, fathers, and you, husbands, are the lost sheep Jesus goes after. You are exactly the ones He treks to the cross to find and redeem. He rescues you from the landfill and says, “I’m your Father. I’m your Savior. I will rescue you and honor you. I will lift you out of the ash heap to sit with princes” (Psalm 113:8). Repent, fathers. Repent, husbands. And hear Jesus picking you up and rejoicing with all the angels that you’ve been found once again. God never throws you out.
And what about the rest of us? Are we lost causes? No. In fact, not only does God want you back. But He even rejoices and throws a party every time you come back. Every time He finds you again…He doesn’t scold you and tell you how dumb you are for getting lost again…He picks you up and rejoices. You are never a throw-away. Always a treasure to be found.
The parable of the lost sons tells the same story with that first, lost, prodigal son. He really is a terrible son. He’s the type of son that today most parents would say, “I’m done with him. I don’t care about him anymore. He’s lost.” He treats his dad as if he were dead and demands his inheritance. Then he goes off and throws it all away in Vegas. He comes out of it all a bum. Nothing to eat. Nowhere to live. He’s feeding pigs and wishing he could eat the pigs’ food.
He’s a throw-away son, right? Forget him. You’ve got the other son. The older son. The good son. You can just stick with him and forget that younger waste of a son. But no. There are no throw-away children with God. God is always waiting for us to return. Always. God always wants you to see how lost you are without Him. When God’s children finally come home, He isn’t waiting there with a lecture for them. He’s not waiting there with an “I told you so, you good-for-nothing son.” He hasn’t already written you out of the inheritance.
Instead, once again we see in the parable rejoicing. The Father rejoices when his prodigal son finally returns. Just as your Father in heaven rejoices whenever you return to Him. He rejoices every Sunday when you come here and confess your sins to Him and ask for forgiveness. He rejoices every time you kneel at the altar and eat this feast that He’s prepared for you. He rejoices every time you fold your hands in prayer and ask for mercy. God doesn’t throw you out. Doesn’t cast you off. He calls you home. Over and over and over again.
However, having said all of that so far, truth be told, Jesus doesn’t tell these parables for throw-away people. True, they are great and comforting parables for throw-away people. For lost people. But actually Jesus tells these parables for those Pharisees and scribes who think other people are throw-away people. And perhaps this is where you and I are lost even more than we realize.
The Pharisees thought some people weren’t good enough for Jesus. And so do we. We’ve thought some people are lost causes. Some people are not even worth a try. That neighbor of yours that won’t come to Church but says she’s a good Christian anyway. And you think it’s a lost cause. That friend on Facebook that is so angry and bitter about the things conservative Christians stand for. And you think he’s a lost cause. That classmate or friend who won’t stop drinking. That buddy of yours who isn’t the church type. That in-law that thinks you’re a religious goody-two shoes. That neighbor who’s never been a church goer their whole life.
Are these throw-away people? Lost causes? No hope? Jesus doesn’t think so. And neither should we. We forget who’s looking for them. God is looking for them. And we forget who died for them. Jesus died for them. And we forget that those worst cases are exactly the cases that need Jesus the most.
So what will we do? This is that last son at the end of the parables today who’s mad that the Father has welcomed back that no good younger son. And we don’t get the ending to the parable. Because Jesus is asking you and me—what will we do? Will we welcome even the least? Even the most lost? Will we recognize that all of us are precious and dear to God?
Last summer, in Sunday morning Bible Study, we did a study called “Every One His Witness”. The one thing I think many of us really took away from that study was that everyone around us is carrying burdens. Just like we are. Even those that are the most confident. We’re all lost in some way. And let these parables today remind you—no one is a throw-away. You aren’t. And no one else is either. So look out for those around you who are lost and burdened. And bring them with you to Jesus. To repent with all of us and be found once again. To be rescued from the trash heap. In Jesus’ name. Amen.