Luke 19:10 (NIV) For the Son
of Man came to seek and to save what was lost."
Last Saturday Joanne and I and
Barbara MacPike took a group of eight Junior High youth to Levant to Treworgy
Orchards. The main object of the trip was to “do” the corn maze. Each year the
folks at this farm plant corn to be turned into a maze of some design. This
year’s maze was a mother and baby elephant. A story is developed and travelers
through the maze are given a map indicating six stations to discover. I have
never been in a three dimensional maze before. The corn is high, and there are
many paths not indicated on the map. In time you can find your way around, but
there are moments when you feel disoriented and surprised – that you’re one
place when you thought you were in another. Because all of this happens in
safety, it ends up being fun. Hence the attraction. The illusion of lostness
and finding your way out or through is appealing. Perhaps it is like watching a
horror movie in a theater or a living room. People enjoy the emotional rise of
being scared, but only from a place of safety. Few people would claim to enjoy
being truly afraid. Fear is a brutal emotion and experience that leaves one
debilitated and out of control if unchecked. So, too, people can enjoy being
lost in a controlled environment whereas being truly lost generates great fear
and anxiety.
Of course, you can be lost and not
know it. We sometimes think of the work of the Church as bringing the Gospel of
Jesus Christ to lost people. This idea is generated by Jesus’ words in Luke
19:10. His self-described mission was to search out and save lost people. Were
they groping around in their world, displaced, and not knowing where they were?
No. They were living their lives in relative security with a sense of place and
belonging. Most of them grew up in families and through their lives maintained
connections that gave meaning and significance. If you asked them if they were
lost they would have quickly responded, “No, are you crazy or something?” They
did not feel lost. And no one they knew would say they were lost.
So when Jesus says He came for a
search and rescue mission for the lost, to whom is He referring? There must be
another kind of lostness – very important if it led to the eternal Son of God
exiting heaven and entering human flesh. Had God lost track of some people as
if He were in a maze and couldn’t find them? No. I think what Jesus was getting
at was that there are those who are lost to Him in their sin in the sense that
they are relationally disconnected from Him on a pathway to hell. If He doesn’t
do something… if He doesn’t go after them, they will remain lost to Him. But
Jesus never fails in His search and rescue missions. He will later say, “I have not lost one of those you gave me.”
(John 18:9). Could God be God if He loses track of people? Not much of a God.
This lost condition is one of being lost in sin. When Jesus speaks of His
search and rescue mission, it was at the end of a visit to the home of
Zacchaeus, a tax collector who was considered an outsider to the house of
Israel. He was hated and considered to be a traitor and worse than a Gentile.
When Jesus pays attention to him people got mad. That’s when Jesus describes
His mission – a mission to the lost. Zacchaeus’ position of lostness is not
unique. We’re all there. And it’s a good thing for us that Jesus came to seek
and to save the lost, because that’s where we are,… or were. “Found” people
have no right to mock, hate, belittle, or think themselves better than lost
people. We all start in lostness and were it not for Christ’s success in
finding and rescuing us, we would still be lost. Once we’re found we can see no
attraction in being lost. That condition has lost any appeal. We understand
just how bad – how serious – it was.
So now, like Jesus, we care about
lost people. We care because God cares. If we do not care, can we really
consider ourselves to be in tune with Christ’s ongoing mission in the world?
Can we belong to God without caring for lost people? I don’t know how that
could be possible. How can I not care about what God cares about and say that I
love God? The condition of being lost – while the culture around us may take it
lightly and in some cases even laugh it off – is a desperate place to be,
especially when eternity is in view. Our great hope is that Jesus both knew and
now knows what He is doing. His search and rescue mission never fails. No one
can remain hidden and unfindable to Him. Nor can they remain unsave-able to
Him. He will not be thwarted, beaten, or frustrated. He will not fail.
Luke 15:1-11 (NIV) 1 Now the tax collectors and
"sinners" were all gathering around to hear him. 2 But
the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, "This man welcomes
sinners and eats with them." 3 Then Jesus told
them this parable: 4 "Suppose one of you has a
hundred sheep and loses one of them. Does he not leave the ninety-nine in the
open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? 5 And
when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders 6 and
goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, 'Rejoice
with me; I have found my lost sheep.' 7 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. 8
"Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins and loses one.
Does she not 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." 11 Jesus
continued: "There was a man who had two sons… (read the rest in Luke 15:11-32)
PRAYER: Father, thank you for the persistence and
faithfulness of Jesus to find me. He found me in my sin and took upon Himself
what was deserved by me. May my memory of my own lostness ever lead me to
praise you, to be appropriately grateful, and to care about others who are
still lost – as you care about them. In Jesus’
name, AMEN.”
Jesus
Christ is Lord!
Scott
No comments:
Post a Comment