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We come back again to the parables of the lost sheep and the lost coin recorded in Luke 15. Those of you who were here last week know that was the Gospel reading for last week as well. These parables are just way too wonderful not to linger over them for awhile.
There are just a few points concerning these parables that I have to make this morning.
One is that you have to read these parables keeping in mind the absolutely astounding enormity of God. Some of you may remember that a few months ago I preached on the astounding enormity of God.
The universe is far, far bigger than the human mind can comprehend. The Milky Way Galaxy, where we live, is far bigger than my mind can comprehend. It's something like 100,000 light years across. Just to get from the sun to the earth, light takes eight minutes to travel that distance. Light takes 100,000 years to travel across our galaxy, and our galaxy is just one tiny little speck of a galaxy in a universe that something like a zillion galaxies. The universe is really, really huge.
The Bible says that God created it all with a word. In Isaiah 40:12, it says that God can mark off the heavens with the breadth of his hand. God can measure the span of creation with his palm.
Some of you know the story of Job. Job spends a long time, in the Book of Job, calling out to God, and it takes God awhile to respond. When God shows up in the whirlwind, God has a lot to say to Job. Some of what God has to say is this: "Where were you when I laid the earth's foundation? Tell me, if you understand. Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know! Who stretched a measuring line across it? On what were its footings set, or who laid its cornerstone-while the morning stars sang together and all the angels shouted for joy?" (Job 38:4-7)
God continues to call Job's attention to creation. A little later on, God says: "Can you bind the beautiful Pleiades?" (The Pleiades are a constellation of stars. They're not all that far away, only 440 light years away from earth.)
God says to Job: "Can you bind the beautiful Pleiades? Can you loose the cords of Orion? Can you bring forth the constellations in their seasons or lead out the Bear with its cubs? Do you know the laws of the heavens? Can you set up God's dominion over the earth?" (Job 38:31-33)
The universe is really, really, really huge. The Bible says God created it all with a word.
The Old Testament reading for today from Isaiah 40 says: "He sits enthroned above the circle of the earth, and its peoples are like grasshoppers."
That's generous. In the scope of the universe, you and I aren't even like grasshoppers. We're like the tiniest specks of dust, invisible to the naked eye.
God is really big.
Philippians 2 talks about Jesus-who was there from the very beginning. Colossians says that it was by Jesus, for Jesus, and through Jesus that creation came into being. And Philippians says that Jesus did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but he laid it all down and he became nothing for our sake. That is, he became one of us-you know, nothing. We are like nothing compared to the enormity of God.
Then Jesus comes along with the Luke 15 parables and a really amazing message. This amazing message is there again and again throughout the Bible, but the Luke 15 parables tell this amazing message so beautifully. Even though we are tiny, insignificant, nothing compared to God-even though we are like grasshoppers-God does not consider us unimportant. God does not forget us in his creation.
You and I, specks though we are, are created in the image of God. In this vast expanse of creation, God has chosen, out of his love and boundlessness, to create humanity in his image. Out here in the middle of nowhere, on some insignificant planet, by some insignificant star, in some insignificant galaxy, God has chosen to create humanity and place within us his very image.
God desires with great passion, and with great compassion, to bring us into his embrace and to call us his sons and daughters.
God doesn't forget us in the vast expanse of the universe, he searches for us. And the more lost we are, the more passionately he searches.
It's because we are lost that God gave his only Son to come and be one of us-to be nothing with us-and to lay down his life for us on the cross so that we might be found. It's because we are lost that he so passionately reaches out to us.
It's on my heart that there is somebody here today who is convinced that God wants nothing to do with them anymore. You're thinking…maybe God loved you once, but he can't possibly love you anymore because you've made such a mess of your life; you've made so many bad decisions; you've wandered so far from the truth; you've turned your back on God so many times. If you're here, you know who you are and the Holy Spirit knows who you are. If you are here, listen closely, because this word is for you.
Jesus himself says that God will never stop waiting for you, never stop looking for you, never stop longing for you. No matter how far you have wandered, God desires passionately to find you, to lift you up on his shoulders, and to bring you home. In fact, the more lost you are, the more passionately God is searching for you, and the bigger the celebration will be when he finally takes you in his arms.
If this sounds like you, my advice for you today is that it's ok to bleat a little.
I don't really know anything about sheep, but if I was a lost sheep, and I didn't know where the shepherd was, and I didn't know if he knew where I was, I'd be like "Baaaaaa! Baaaaaa! Baaaaaa! Baaaaaa!" That's what I mean when I say it's ok to bleat.
For one of us it might sound something like this: "Hey, God. I don't know where you are. I don't know if you can hear me. I'm not even really sure that you're looking for me, but just in case you are, here I am. Baaaaaa! I'm not sure where here is exactly, but I hope you'll hear my voice and come and get me, because I sure don't know how to find my way to you. It's lonely out here, God. It's dangerous. Find me. Lift me up on your shoulders, and bring me home. Baaaaaa!"
I know that there is somebody here who has a loved one who is lost-a sister or brother or son or daughter or spouse. There is somebody you love who has wandered so far away from God that they don't even know how lost they are.
What these parables in Luke 15 say to you is this: don't give up hope. The farther your loved one has wandered, the more passionately God is searching for them. It's never too late for the one you love to come to his senses and turn in God's direction. When they do, God will gather him in his embrace and bring them home.
I want to close by reading just that part of the third parable in Luke 15, the parable of the lost son. The son finally comes to his senses, and "so he got up and went to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion with him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him. The son said to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.' But the father said to his servants, 'Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let's have a feast and celebrate. For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.'" (Luke 15:20-24)
Thanks be to God.
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