What God Thinks About You • Luke 15:1-10

1:11:30 Teaching begins

Notes

Some religious people are really dissatisfied with Jesus because they can’t figure Him out. Why in the world does He invite and seek out sinners?

There’s another layer to this: why does He not treat us as we deserve? We care about keeping the law, not like these worthless nothings.

Well! What is God really like? When you find out what Jesus thinks, you’ll find out what God thinks about you:

You belong to Him, you’re valuable to Him, and He cares for you.

I’m reading in Luke chapter 15 from verse 1.

1. Sinners draw near to Jesus, and it bothers the Pharisees.

A. By sinners the Pharisees mean Jews that aren’t religious.

1. Tax collectors are basically traitors to the Jewish people. The Rome rules over the Jewish nation. They farm out the collecting of taxes to locals wealthy enough to bid for the contract of collecting the money. They abuse their authority to collect more than is needed to fulfil their contract with Rome, and they get rich. The other Jews are outraged and treat them as dead, no longer Jewish, but traitors and scum. That’s what they are, for the most part.

2. There are others that they hang with that are all outside respectability, like prostitutes, thieves, secular Jews who aren’t trying to obey the law of Moses. They basically don’t follow that stuff. Don’t know, don’t care.

B. As far as the Pharisees are concerned, these are worthless scum. They don’t care about God or His law. Let them go to hell and good riddance.

C. Yet Jesus reaches out to them and attracts them.

1. This isn’t the first time Jesus has reached out to these people. We first saw this in Luke 5:30 The Pharisees and their scribes began grumbling at His disciples, saying, “Why do you eat and drink with the tax collectors and sinners?”

2. He does this all the time.

D. This really bothers the Pharisees. They grumble, which means they’re complaining in a low undertone.

1. In their opinion, the Messiah, from God, ought to reward the righteous and punish the wicked. It’s a no-brainer. Of course, that’s what He ought to do.

2. But Jesus seeks these worthless people and woos them. He attracts them and draws them to Himself, and He wants them. This is not what they expect. It’s inexplicable. It’s just wrong.

3. And, Jesus does not treat them with the respect they expect. We care about the Law of Moses. We interpret so people can obey it. We obey it. Our lives revolve around the Law. And He does not acknowledge us, He goes after traitors and the worthless who don’t care.

2. Well, what a situation. What is Jesus going to do?

A. Before Him are two groups with different attitudes and different needs.

B. He doesn’t want to miss reaching out to the lost people, that’s why He’s here in the first place.

C. He knows they are all sinners. They are all lost.

D. He will tell three parables to reach them all at the same time. Everyone can find themselves in these simple stories. Jesus reaches out to everyone, to bring them to Himself, and He reveals the Father’s compassion and mercy.

3. Everyone can sympathise with finding a lost sheep.

A. Sheep get lost specifically because they’re not smart.

1. They don’t understand that if they wander off they don’t know how to get home. It will not know how to go home.

2. They can’t take care of themselves. If they as much as fall over, they can’t get up.

3. They have no natural defenses against predators. As soon as they go lost, they are as good as dead.

4. They are not equipped to wander off, and yet they do it anyway.

B. Jesus says, What man of you wouldn’t go find that lost sheep? Every one of you would go out and get it. Why?

1. That’s my sheep. I own it. It belongs to me.

2. I am a shepherd. It’s my responsibility to take care of it. I care about that sheep. I don’t keep sheep in order to lose them.

3. That sheep is valuable to me. You can’t say, oh well, at least you have 99 other sheep.

4. For all these reasons I am not indifferent to that sheep.

C. That man goes out looking for that sheep, expecting to find it.

1. He can’t quit until he finds it. If you give up, the sheep is a meal. He loses his sheep. It has no value to me as long as it is lost.

2. He perseveres in hope. Right now there’s a chance to find it, and unless he finds its remains there is hope.

D. When he finds the sheep he rejoices.

1. Notice how the joy overflows. Everyone can sympathise and relate. I know how I would feel if I lost a sheep. Oh, I’m so sorry. Who could rejoice over a lost sheep? Only a wicked person. An enemy.

2. Finding the lost is absolutely good. Losing is a complete tragedy, it’s absolutely sad. This is true for everyone.

E. So Jesus draws the conclusion: all heaven rejoices when a sinner repents.

1. Repent means to change the direction of your mind so that you change the direction of your life.

2. Are you home with Jesus? Is He your shepherd? Or are you away from Jesus and He is not your shepherd? If you think away from Him, then you are lost. If you think in His direction, then you are saved.

4. What woman doesn’t look for her lost money?

A. She has ten drachmas. It doesn’t matter how much money nowadays that is. That’s not the point. The point is that each of those coins are valuable. A coin is valuable in itself.

B. When she loses one coin, that coin becomes worthless. If she goes to a market and the seller asks her for the money she can’t say, “I have a drachma, but I don’t know where it is.” As long as it’s lost the coin is worthless. So add this to our definition: only coins that are found are valuable. Lost, they have no worth.

C. The woman looks everywhere for it without ceasing because it matters to her, it’s hers, she cares for it. Therefore she has hope of finding it. If she quits, it’s gone for good, she’s lost the value. It can’t be of value until it’s found.

D. Then she finds it and her joy overflows to everyone else because they sympathise with her.

1. I feel terrible when I lose money. I would be unhappy and grieved.

2. Finding it is triumphant, hey, I did it! Victorious, conquering, successful.

3. Everyone benefits: I’m happy, the coin is valuable again because it’s found, all my friends understand, they’re happy, too.

4. Who benefits when the coin is lost? No one. Here’s another part of our definition: Lost affects everyone. Found affects everyone.

5. So what?

A. We understand the point of these stories.

1. It’s nothing but sad to lose things. It’s a tragedy for the owner to lose what’s his because he cares. It doesn’t benefit anyone.

2. It’s happy to find the lost: value is restored, it’s home, it’s near, it’s safe. It’s good for the owner to find the lost. Everyone is made happy.

B. Jesus is concerned for greater things than sheep and coins. If it’s good for lost sheep and coins to be found, how much more lost people?

C. What difference does it make that Jesus is seeking to save the lost?

1. He made everything. He is the Creator of heaven and earth. Colossians 1:16 For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. This is important because no one else made you. There is no other God.

2. He says you’re lost. You wandered off, you’re far distant from Him. He’s right here, He’s everywhere you go, but you are far from Him in your mind. You don’t know how to get back, you’d never find your way back. You’re dead, you’re a meal for death that is coming to get you. You have no value above being food for someone else to eat.

3. Because He made you, He cares about you. He is not indifferent. You’re His. He doesn’t want to lose you, so you become worthless and die. That’s not right. He gets no pleasure out of that.

D. He goes out looking, sweeps the house, lights a candle, doesn’t give up until. Until what?

1. In the stories, the sheep is found, the coin is found.

2. But the equivalent in real life, says Jesus, is repenting.

E. Repenting is changing your mind so it changes the direction of your life.

1. You went away from God in your mind. Your life went away from God and you became worthless and died.

2. When you change your mind about God and come back to Him, then you are found.

3.  When a sheep wanders off, it’s not thinking about how necessary is the shepherd. It’s not thinking about consequences, like getting lost or getting killed and devoured. It’s just wanting to do its own thing.

4. When the shepherd finds the sheep, the sheep is glad it has a shepherd who knows the way home to safety. It wants to stay close to the shepherd so that it never gets lost again. It really enjoys the shepherd’s presence and his care for that sheep. Suddenly all that has meaning and value.

F. You know who is the real and only God by His value for you. How important are you to God?

1. In every other so-called religion, you have to make yourself valuable, you have to do something to please that god. When that god is pleased by what you’ve done, then you are given value by that god. That god doesn’t save you, he doesn’t make you valuable, you make yourself valuable. You save yourself. You find yourself because the god is not going to do that.

2. The Father says, “You are so valuable to Me that I will give My only Son to die in your place, so you can come home to Me.” Only the Father values you like His Son. That Son is pure, spotless, blameless, eternal, almighty God, holy, righteous, humble. When you repent and come to Jesus, the Father counts you as pure, spotless, blameless, holy, righteous, humble, just like His Son. He makes you completely valuable beyond price.

3. Nobody else values you like that. Not the government, not your job and employer. Not your own family. Only the Father values you above Himself.

G. So you know that God legitimately loves you. He cares for you. He says you’re lost and dead and valueless until you change your mind and turn around to Him and say, “I’m lost. Please save me.” He rejoices to save you. Will you turn to Him now?

Let’s pray.