Our Savior is Always Seeking Us

Title:   Our Savior is Always Seeking Us By Pastor Lohn Johnson

Luke 15: 3-5  3 So he told them this parable:  4 "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.

INTRODUCTION: My dear friends in Christ, Years ago a man named Thor Heyerdahl wanted to test the theory that people from South America could have settled the Polynesian Islands in the South Pacific long before Columbus sailed to the New World.  So Heyerdahl took a small team of men to Peru, where they constructed a raft out of balsa logs. These logs were tied together with rope much as a group of sailors might have done in earlier times. Heyerdahl named the raft the Kon-Tiki. He and his crew of five set out on the Pacific from the coast of Peru on April 28, 1947. They sailed the raft over 4,300 miles across the Pacific Ocean before smashing into a reef in Polynesia 101 days later. They had accomplished their goal. While the venture was successful, it was not without difficulties. Two months into the voyage and thousands of miles from land, one of the men, a man named Herman, lost his footing and fell overboard. The raft, driven by a strong wind in heavy seas, moved ahead faster than Herman could swim. The five remaining men were naturally horrified. They tried to throw Herman a life belt on a rope, but the wind blew it back at them. In seconds, Herman was all but lost to their sight in the mass of waves. Suddenly one of the men, a man named Knute, grabbed the life belt and dove into the water. He swam back to Herman and wrapped his arm around him, holding his exhausted friend and the rope while the men on the boat pulled them both back to the safety of the raft. (1) All six of the men subsequently finished the journey unharmed.  All I could think of when I heard this was: “That would have been a big ocean to be lost in."

I. And for us we have a big world to be lost in too.

A. And let’s not be mistaken here we are All lost, more lost than Herman would have been.

1. Even those self-righteous Pharisees in our text were lost.

a. They saw the signs of God’s presence but refused to believe.  b. They claimed they have not need of repentance.  c. They even thought they had the right to judge Jesus.  d. They weren’t obviously lost, but they were lost nonetheless.

2. And we too are lost.  All of us.  Sin makes us lost. We are all sinners. And sin causes us to be and act lost.

a. For one thing, we do not get along great with all the other sheep.  We're always bumping into each other.  We're putting our dirty feet on the grass where other sheep are grazing. We have words with each other, and not always very nice words.  And we like to place blame upon the other sheep within our family, within our congregation.  But when we look to the Word of God and hear His accusing Law, we know full well that we are as sinful as all the other sheep in the flock.  Then we know we are lost. b. And, also, we always tend to be wandering off and getting lost.  Sometimes we're a sheep who wanders away from the flock.  We're tempted by something out there in the world, and off we go.  And before long we're lost in our sins.  c. Sometimes we're a coin that gets lost right there in the house.  We're still in the House of God week after week, but we're just as lost as a lost sheep.  We listen to the words that are spoken, but our hearts are not hearing them.  Our sins and weaknesses have pulled us away from the Savior.  We're still sitting there in His House, but we're lost in the darkness of our sins.  d. It reminds me of a story of a husband and wife who had been married for 15 years and the wife is sitting buckled in on her side of the car and the husband is sitting buckled in on his side of the car. The wife says, "Dear, why don't we sit as close as we used to?" The husband turns and says to her, "Well, honey, who moved?" Why isn't God as close to us as he used to be? The question is, "who moved?" Who is lost?  God has not moved; God is not lost. We are the ones who get lost.

B. In our lost-ness some turn this around and see God as the lost one and not us.

1. Years ago a Religious bumper sticker saying, "I Found It" was popular. It implied something to do with finding faith and with finding God.  As I thought about this bumper sticker something seemed wrong with that Idea.  Then it hit me: We need to remember who is looking for whom. The bumper sticker really ought to say, "God Found Me." 2. The familiar hymn "Amazing Grace" which we will sing during Communion captures the idea when it says: “Amazing grace!  How sweet the sound that saves a wretch like me! I once was lost but now am found, Was blind but now I see.”  God reaches out to us.  He entered into our lives seeking to bring us the message of his love.

III. So God seeks us actively in love

A. His seeking began with our rescue.

1. His seeking can be seen like this: If you visit a certain ship in the Baltimore harbor, you can hear a guide explain the rescue system in case anyone fell overboard.  He proudly shared how well it worked, and why.  The captain had sewn some life jackets into a dummy which looked like a person.  Without notice, the captain would throw this dummy overboard, expecting that within seconds someone would see it in the water and sound the alarm.  When the alarm sounded, everyone on board the ship immediately focused total attention on the rescue.  If necessary, even the ship itself would be turned around.  Within three minutes the dummy would be rescued, and the crew would proudly present it to the captain.  Similarly we are lost at sea and God has sent a rescuer to find us.  Like the man from the Kon Tiki raft who jumped off to save Herman. 2.  Likewise God focused everything on saving us through Jesus.  It took everything that God’s Son had.  The rescue, the saving, cost.

a. Jesus entered our sin-darkened world, became one of us. He carried our burdens as He lived a perfect life – the life we could not live.  He carried our burdens to the cross.  There He was punished for our sin.  To find and reclaim His sheep, Jesus had to go to hell and back. He had to ransom His sheep by suffering the punishment we deserve.  The Shepherd carried on His shoulders the burden of the lost sheep.  Without the shouldering of this burden there is no rescue.  He died. b. But on the third day He rose from the dead.  He won rescue, He won salvation for us.

B. And this is the same Shepherd who loves sinful sheep today.  He seeks us until He finds us, and with joy He brings us home.

1. Jesus was sending out His seeking word as He told these parables.  That word is God’s finding tool.  God is not lost He is right there in the Word for all to see.

a. The Word is at work today too.  It finds us and it gives us the message of how God in Christ has worked salvation for us.  Sin is forgiven.  God loves us.  The word works in us and gives us the salvation that Jesus has won. b. We are called to be like the little girl who came home from church and told her mother that the pastor had spoken about her in his sermon. She said that in fact the pastor had read her name from the Bible. The mother couldn’t really believe what she was hearing, so she asked her daughter what verse the pastor had read. She said that it was that verse that says, “Jesus receives sinners and ‘Edith’ with them.” We should all hear him speak our names and believe that the gift of the cross is just for us. c. The word goes out.  Baptism transforms.  We are found. The Salvation which Jesus won is given to us.  It does not matter the type of lost-ness we suffered.  We are made part of God’s family.

2. Jesus joyously welcomes all sinners into His presence.  Especially you and me.

a. You and I have been found by a merciful Lord.  Jesus forgives us.  And when we believe this, why would we ever want to run away into sin again?  We are forgiven; so why would we ever want to run away from His House of Mercy? b. Stay with your Shepherd.  Keep yourself where His voice is heard, where His flesh and blood is given for you to eat and drink.  Keep yourself where you receive the good and gracious gifts of our Shepherd.  c. Now we are made of the seekers, too.  Is it possible that the woman with the lamp searching her house for the lost coin is a symbol of the church?  The Illumination that comes from the lamp is like the Word of God, which the church brings to those who are assembled for worship. Then Our job becomes the carrying of the word to all who are lost.  And as we do we rejoice as God’s word works, as God’s word saves.

CONCLUSION: Yes, we were lost – all of us whether we realize it or not.  And we can’t find God on our own.  But fortunately for us God seeks us.  He comes through Jesus first and foremost to win our salvation.  Then He finds us through the Word and Sacraments to give out that salvation.  And through these means we are we are found and given a place in His family.  Then He moves us to desire to remain where His voice is heard.  And He moves us to be seekers too.  Now we seek to tell others about our seeking God.  Amen.