The One goes after the one

 This message was preached at Word Of Grace Church on December 1st 2024 by Colin. For the audio & video please click here.  For the worship please click here.

What is God's purpose for us in this place? 

Luke 15 - lost sheep, lost coin and lost son. 

“Now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear him. And the Pharisees and the scribes grumbled, saying, "This man receives sinners and eats with them."” - Luke‬ ‭15‬:‭1‬-‭2‬ ‭ESV‬‬

Every society has a social order. In Jesus' time, at the very bottom of the barrel, were lepers, then there were shepherds, tax collectors, prostitutes and sinners were next. The Pharisees and scribes set themselves apart from them.  They looked down on Jesus because he related to them and ate with them.

Even in today’s society, these distinctions still exist. Jesus addresses this situation in this passage. 

“"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? 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.” - Luke‬ ‭15‬:‭4‬-‭7‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“"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."” - Luke‬ ‭15‬:‭8‬-‭10‬ ‭ESV‬‬

Luke 15 is about 3 parables that Jesus teaches. They all have the same theme - something lost, something found, great rejoicing. He repeats it in 3 parables to hammer in the point. 

The parable is the use of an illustration using everyday life. He is taking a story to communicate a deeper moral truth and a spiritual lesson. 

Jesus was showing how important and precious lost people are. These parables are similar but not identical. 

Sheep are not the sharpest animals. They are always afraid of predators. 3 types of sinners are lost. 

1. The lost sheep: They are lost, know they’re lost and can’t help themselves. They need a good shepherd. God is interested in lost people. There are 100s of people in this mall who are lost without Jesus. What is it that gives the Father in heaven great joy? A sinner repenting. the angels rejoice with him! People go from crisis to calm. Lost sheep are those who are lost and just a friend to come along and give them hope. Jesus can come into their lives and change them. That’s why we pursue them. 

2. The lost coin: this is the kind of person who is lost and doesn’t know that he is lost. Our job is to seek people like this and bring the light of Jesus into their life. When the coin is found, again there is rejoicing. 

3. The lost son: “And he said, "There was a man who had two sons. And the younger of them said to his father, 'Father, give me the share of property that is coming to me.' And he divided his property between them. Not many days later, the younger son gathered all he had and took a journey into a far country, and there he squandered his property in reckless living. And when he had spent everything, a severe famine arose in that country, and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him into his fields to feed pigs. And he was longing to be fed with the pods that the pigs ate, and no one gave him anything. "But when he came to himself, he said, 'How many of my father's hired servants have more than enough bread, but I perish here with hunger! I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him, "Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Treat me as one of your hired servants."' And he arose and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him. And the son said to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.' But the father said to his servants, 'Bring quickly the best robe, and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet. And bring the fattened calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate. For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.' And they began to celebrate.” ‭‭Luke‬ ‭15‬:‭11‬-‭24‬ ‭ESV‬‬.

This guy came to his senses. The lost sheep couldn’t help himself. The lost coin didn’t know that he was lost. But the prodigal son takes steps to come back to the father. There are people in our lives who have made bad decisions and find themselves with the pigs. You cannot stop them from leaving. The shepherd went looking for the coin and the woman went looking for the coin. But the father didn’t go looking, he stayed waiting. We need to be like the father, looking out for them to take steps to return. 

God's heart : God rejoices over sinners repenting. Sadly the Pharisees and scribes who had the word of God did not rejoice in the sinners repenting. Do we have the heart of the father or the heart of the Pharisees? Do we seek out the lost or stay away from them to keep ourselves clean? 

Let’s examine our hearts. Do you identify with any one of these lost people? Your response is to come to Jesus. For the rest of us, our job is to take the love of God to the lost ones. 

Word of Grace is an Evangelical (Born Again),  Spirit-filled (Charismatic), Reformed, English-speaking church in Pune that upholds the Bible as God's inspired Word for life. We are a church community that has people from every part of India and parts of the world. We are here to put the Great Command and the Great Commission into practice by equipping and releasing every member into works of service.  Word of Grace is part of a wider international family of Churches called RegionsBeyond.To know more about us please log onto www.wordofgracechurch.org. 

Lost and Found | Augustine K

This message was preached  by Augustine Kudalkar at Word of Grace Church on May 27th, 2018. To listen/download the audio please click here. To listen to the Sunday's worship and prophetic contributions please click here.

Luke 15:1-10

Jesus mostly spoke in parables and not everyone understood them. The disciples would often take Jesus aside and ask what it meant. Parables are stories that convey truth through analogy or contrast. It dealt with the attitude of the Pharisees- it dealt with the issues of the heart.

Q. Have you ever lost anything valuable in your life?

“Now the tax collectors and sinners were all gathering around to hear Jesus. 2 But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.”

The Pharisees distanced themselves. They were Jews working for the Roman government. The sinners were gentiles, who were drunkards, adulterers, etc.

3 Then Jesus told them this parable: 4 “Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Doesn’t he leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and goes home.

The Shepherd faithfully went after the lost sheep. He could’ve assumed the worst and not bothered to go after the sheep. But he goes after the sheep and he rejoices over the sheep.

Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.’ I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.

God does the same with us.

Zephaniah 3:17-20 “The Lord your God is with you, the Mighty Warrior who saves.He will take great delight in you; in his love he will no longer rebuke you, but will rejoice over you with singing. I will remove from you all who mourn over the loss of your appointed festivals, which is a burden and reproach for you. At that time I will deal with all who oppressed you. I will rescue the lame; I will gather the exiles. I will give them praise and honor in every land where they have suffered shame. 20 At that time I will gather you; at that time I will bring you home. I will give you honor and praise among all the peoples of the earth when I restore your fortunes before your very eyes,” says the Lord.”

God rejoices over us.

Luke 15:8- 10 “Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins[a] and loses one. Doesn’t she light a lamp, sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it? 9 And when she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost coin.’ 10 In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.””

The woman lights a lamp and sweeps the house and she seeks diligently until she finds it. The opposite of being diligent is being lazy. The coin did not find her, she found the coin.

Isaiah 53:6 - “We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.”

We were all lost at one stage. But someone sought us out and we were found. God is inviting us to this world wide mission which he talks about in Matthew 28: 18-20 “Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.””

Luke 19:10 –“For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”Jesus also modelled the mission for us. Zaccheus was eager to see Jesus and Jesus decided to have dinner with him and Zaccheus’ heart changed.

Jesus came to seek and save the lost. Anyone can reach out to the lost. The shepherd boy, the woman, the Father... Everyone sought out the thing they had lost and they found it. So today you could be working, a student, a man or a woman, you have an invitation to take on the ministry of reconciliation.Everyone is valuable and significant in the sight of God. He doesn’t have favouritism. Just as we have ministries of external affairs, corporate affairs, defense, etc. God has given us this ministry of reconciliation.

2 Corinthians 5:17-21 “17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come:[a] The old has gone, the new is here! 18 All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: 19 that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. 20 We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. 21 God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”

So we are the ambassadors of Christ.

1 Peter 2: 9-10 “9 But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. 10 Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.”

Q. How we participate in this mission?

1.      Pray for them

2.      Eat with them and accept them

3.      Share the gospel with them

When you seek out the lost, God makes our efforts fruitful by drawing them to Himself. So let’s go out and seek the lost and share the Good News of Salvation.

Word of Grace is an Evangelical (Born Again),  Spirit filled (Charismatic), Reformed, English speaking church in Pune that upholds the Bible as God's inspired Word for life. We are a church community that have people from every part of India and parts of the world. We are here to put the Great Command and the Great Commission into practice by equipping and releasing every member into works of service. To know more about us please log onto www.wordofgracechurch.org. 

The heart of the Father| Colin D

This message was preached  by Colin D'cruz at Word of Grace Church on June 18th, 2017. To listen/download the audio please click here. To listen to the Sunday's worship and prophetic contributions please click here.

We know we have a heavenly Father when we are in Christ. We want to pattern our lives according to the Godly Father.

Q. What is a heavenly Father like? Luke 15 contains 3 parables which speaks about what the Father is like.

1.      Parable of the lost sheep:   ““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.’”

Q. Have you ever lost something and then find it?

Jesus was saying, in verse 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”

Here we see the Father’s heart. God is rejoicing even when one person turn to him.

It is important when we read the Bible that we understand the context. Why is Jesus sharing these parables. In verse 1- “Now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear him.” these sinners were outcasts in those times. The Pharisees and Scribes kept the law scrupulously. They memorised the first 5 books of the Bible. They did everything according to the law. They could only walk so much on the Sabbath, if you walk further, it is work. In Israel there is a Shabath lift where you don’t even press a button.

Tax collectors were not like our Income Tax officers. Rome governed most of the known world. They built roads because they sent soldiers to any part of the empire on these roads. They paid for these soldiers by taxing the people. They appointed Tax Collectors for this purpose who taxed the people more than they were supposed to, and pocketed the next. The Pharisees saw that Jesus was eating with these kind of people. Sinners, were maimed and with physical deformities because they were physically deformed. Other type of sinners were prostitutes and people who did jobs no one else wants to do.

Jesus was eating with people like this. In India we have this situation with caste system. Jesus broke down all barriers. He preached to them, ate with them and went to their homes. He explains the Father’s heart to the people who were questioning this behaviour of his. He repeats in verse 10- “Just so, I tell you, there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents.” God is looking for people who will repent.

2.      Parable of the lost coin: “Or what woman, having ten silver coins,[a] 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.””

3.      Parable of the prodigal son: “There was a man who had two sons. 12 And the younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of property that is coming to me.’” What is he asking for? His inheritance before the Father dies. It is insulting, saying you don’t matter, just give me what I will get when you die. The son got the inheritance- which was land, cattle, etc. Then, this son sold everything and leaves his father’s house. He squanders it on  wild living.

a.      The son was doing a wrong thing- sometimes, God can let us continue in our wrongdoing for our season till we come to the end of ourselves. The Israelites kept worshipping idols. The heart was sinful. God let them continue in their sin till they were taken captive by the Assyrians and Babylonians where they were surrounded with idolatry. So if you notice in the New Testament the 4 gospels have no mention of idolatry. They had come to an end of themselves and threw idolatry out. 

b.      The Trajectory of sin: In verse 14, after he spent everything, there was a severe famine. He spent everything irresponsibly. “And when he had spent everything, a severe famine arose in that country, and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him into his fields to feed pigs. And he was longing to be fed with the pods that the pigs ate, and no one gave him anything.” He had great privileges in his Father’s house. To the Jews, pigs are unclean and to say they have to feed pigs is disgusting. He is willing not just to feed the pigs, but to eat what they were eating.

This is a picture of the trajectory of sin. Any sin we indulge will lead us to the rock bottom. But the good news is coming. There is a point in time when we come to our senses. We ask ourselves, what am I doing?

c.      Repentance: “I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Treat me as one of your hired servants. And he arose and came to his father.” This is the act of repentance. That we turn from our sin and turn to our Father.

d.      Father’s response- if your son behaved this way, how long would you lecture him? The heart of the Father is this- “But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him” Even though the son turned away, the Father’s eyes looked out for him. He doesn’t say, “Let him come here and I’ll talk to him”. It is not respectable to run for the patriarch. But he was overcome with joy. He can’t wait. At this point, the Pharisees would have freaked out.

e.      Restoration: Verse 22-23 “Bring quickly the best robe, and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet. And bring the fattened calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate” They were restoring his position and celebrating his return.

This is the heart of the father. We could be like the Pharisees wanting to judge them and deal with them. But the Father heart of God doesn’t only accept the son as a servant, but restores him as a son. Forgiveness is free but it cost the Father a great deal. Let us receive the heart of the Father- that is, forgiveness to the worst sinner. We are here to seek and save the lost. It is going to be messy, but restoration is the heart of the Father. The Pharisees did not understand the behaviour of Jesus, but he was simply displaying the Father heart of God.

Word of Grace is an Evangelical (Born Again),  Spirit filled (Charismatic), Reformed, English speaking church in Pune that upholds the Bible as God's inspired Word for life. We are a church community that have people from every part of India and parts of the world. We are here to put the Great Command and the Great Commission into practice by equipping and releasing every member into works of service. To know more about us please log onto www.wordofgracechurch.org.