Tag: lost + found

We begun in Study one answering the question WHO IS JESUS? Who is he? He’s the one who comes to seek and save the lost in fulfilment of Isaiah 61.

In this final passage from Luke we see that Jesus again fulfils an Old Testament Bible passage. Which one? All of them!! The “Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms” is just another way of saying the whole of the Old Testament.

2 Corinthians 1:20 says that “no matter how many promises God has made, they are ‘Yes’ in Christ.”

All of God’s promises and purposes are summed up in Jesus.

Life is all about Jesus.

And in Luke 24:36-49 Jesus (who is physically risen and eating) helps the disciples to understand that everything that happened to him was done according to the scriptures. He suffered, he died, he rose again, and now repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name.

Life is all about Jesus.

We were made by Jesus and for Jesus.

We were saved by Jesus and for Jesus.

Being a Christian is all about Jesus. It’s not about religion. It’s not about doing stuff. It’s about Jesus. Trusting Jesus. Believing Jesus. Loving Jesus. Suffering for Jesus. Delighting in Jesus. Proclaiming Jesus. Praying to Jesus. Worshipping Jesus. Living for Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus.

When the lost are found by Jesus. Life is no longer about living in darkness. Life is about living in the light of Jesus. Living differently because of what Jesus has done.

What will it mean to now live as one who as been found?
What will it mean to be part of the fellowship of the found?

The rest of the New Testament is about what it means to gather as part of the fellowship of Jesus. In Luke’s second volume, The ACTS of the Apostles, he gives some insights on what it meant for the early church to live the new life.

Have a read of Acts 2:42-47 & Acts 4:32-37 and see something of the radical changes in the lives of the first followers of Jesus: The Fellowship of the Found.

Are you found?
What’s stopping you from coming to Jesus to be found?
—————-
Part 10 of Lost and Found. I’m writing a series of talks and studies on Lost and Found. These aren’t talks or studies… just some thinking. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9.

John Lennon said of The Beatles: “We’re more popular than Jesus.” Noel Gallagher said of Oasis: “We’re going to be bigger than the Beatles.”

Noel Gallagher in effect is saying that Oasis will be bigger than Jesus!

Lots of people in pop culture have an opinion on who Jesus is… more often than not many quotes about Jesus may seem positive or simply be neutral. Different religions are happy to say that Jesus was a great teacher. But often when Jesus is mentioned in popular culture it is done in a mocking tone. Jesus is ridiculed.

Why do people ridicule Jesus? Why do people reject Jesus?

In Luke 23:32-43 of the many responses to Jesus, they can be summarised into 2 categories.

Those that reject Jesus.
Those that accept Jesus.

The people. Reject Jesus.
The rulers. Reject Jesus.
The soldiers. Reject Jesus.
The sign writer. Rejects Jesus.
The criminal #1. Rejects Jesus.

The criminal #2. Accepts Jesus.

Of all the responses that Luke records for us (in this passage) there is only one where Jesus is not rejected.

Criminal #2 has a good set of glasses on. He can see clearly.

1) He sees himself clearly
“We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve.” This guy isn’t deluded. He’s probably spent the last day or two reflecting on his life that is about to end. He’s done the crime. Now he’s about to pay. He is being honest – he knows he is lost. He’s under no illusion.

2) He sees Jesus clearly
“But this man has done nothing wrong… Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” While others throw insults at Jesus this guy is bowing his knee to the Lord of the Universe. He recognises that Jesus is without sin – and he recognises that Jesus is the King of an eternal kingdom.

Criminal #2 knows that he is lost. Criminal #2 knows that Jesus can find him.

What about everyone else? Not just those at the scene but for the last 2000 years of history? Everyone who rejects Jesus has failed to 1) see themselves clearly and 2) see Jesus clearly.

Have you recognised that you are lost?
Have you recognised that it’s only in Jesus death that you can be found?
—————-
Part 9 of Lost and Found. I’m writing a series of talks and studies on Lost and Found. These aren’t talks or studies… just some thinking. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8.

On every single occasion that I have lodged a tax return over the past 10+ years I have received money back from the government. Except one time.

I was a uni student. That year I had to pay the government extra tax at the end of the year because I hadn’t paid enough throughout the prior financial year.

I forgot to pay it.

So.

At the end of the calendar year the tax collector came to visit.

In the old days they would knock on your door, but now they only knock on your door if you owe millions. I didn’t owe millions. So they sent me a letter instead.

The letter was very encouraging (like the letter I was sent from a theological college when I failed a correspondence course exam… but that’s another story!). Basically they wanted to help me. The letter gave me a whole bunch of options on how they could help me to pay off the loan. Did I need financial assistance? Financial advice? A longer period to pay off the total? They gave me a number of hotlines to ring depending on my scenario. I was really impressed with the letter! How much did I owe? $5.27… that’s all! I didn’t need any advice… I just needed a kick up the pants to remind me to pay it! $5.27. I didn’t really need all the options that they offered – but I thought that the tax collector was being nice nonetheless.

Nice.

Nice isn’t a word you’d use to describe Tax Collectors in the time of Luke 19:1-10. In first century Israel the tax collectors were Jewish rip-off merchants who were working for the occupying Roman forces. They were hated by their fellow countrymen. For good reason. The tax collectors didn’t send ‘nice’ letters like I received. They sent guys with big muscles to beat you up. And rather than just collecting your $5.27 they’d squeeze $527 out of you!

So when the religious nuts have a go at Jesus by saying “He has gone to be the guest of a ‘sinner’”… they were right! Zacchaeus was a bad man. He ripped people off.

Things changed when Zac met Jesus.

Repentance is ‘be sorry and change your mind’ and ‘turn back’. Zac repented. He turned his life around upon following Jesus. He gave half of his possessions away and promised to pay back fourfold to those he’d ripped off.

This is the type of guy that Jesus came to seek and save. He was lost. He may have been wealthy. But he was lost. I wonder if the parable in Luke 18:9-14, where a tax collector cries out to God for mercy, is a preview to the events here in chapter 19?

Jesus doesn’t save the lost so that they can continue being lost. When the lost are found they are to live differently.

If you are a Christian, you are no longer lost. But you need to be different. You aren’t saved because you are different. You are different because you have been saved.
———–
Part 8 of Lost and Found. I’m writing a series of talks and studies on Lost and Found. These aren’t talks or studies… just some thinking. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7.

I grew up in Wyong. I grew up thinking that my family weren’t very rich. I grew up disappointed that my parents didn’t buy me all of the toys that I ‘needed’.

I’ve now grown up and now realise just how rich I’ve always been. Having running water, a roof over my head, a steady income and an incredibly prosperous government and welfare system means that I’m one of the richest people in the world!

If you’re reading this on the Internet, you’re rich too. Truly poor people don’t use the internet. Jesus says in Luke 18:18-34 that it’s easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of God.

Bummer.

It’s pretty tough to get into the Kingdom of God!

It’s even tougher when you try to do something to get in. The Rich Dude in Luke 18 thought that he could ‘do’ something to go to heaven: “What must I do to inherit eternal life?”

He thinks he’s done enough. He claims to have kept a bunch of commandments. Yet he’s failed to keep the greatest commandment. He doesn’t love and worship God with all of his heart. He loves his possessions and riches more than he loves God.

The truth is that all of us fail to love God as we should.

So the disciples rightly ask – who then can be saved?

Jesus: what’s impossible with men is possible for God.

It’s impossible for anyone – rich or poor – to receive eternal life by doing stuff. Immediately following Jesus’ interaction with the Rich Dude Jesus speaks, in Luke 18:31-34, of how the impossible will be achieved. The key? Jesus. Jesus will do it. Jesus came to seek and to save the lost. How does he do that? Through his death and resurrection.

Where is your trust? Is it in yourself and what you can DO? Or is it in Jesus and what he has DONE?
————
Part 7 of Lost and Found. I’m writing a series of talks and studies on Lost and Found. These aren’t talks or studies… just some thinking. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6.

Country and Western movies are fun. I remember watching them on Saturday afternoons when I was young. I honestly thought that there was a time when everything was black and white. It was while watching these movies that I learnt that the world has always been colourful, it just took a while to work out how to capture it on film!

In Country and Western movies, it’s always obvious who the goodies and baddies were. The goodies rode the white horse with the white hat and the white jacket. The baddies? They had the black gear on the black horse. From the beginning until the end it was always obvious who was who.

In Luke 18:9-14 it seems obvious. The Pharisee was a good guy. The Tax Collector was a bad guy. Finished.

Not according to Jesus.

This parable is all about what it means to be justified before God. It’s a legal term referring to a right standing and declaration of innocence before a judge. Who is the one who goes home justified before God? It’s not the good guy. It’s the bad guy who cries out to God for mercy. The good guy was trusting in his own goodness. He had too small a view of God and too high a view of himself. The bad guy recognised he was a bad guy – and knew that the only chance he had of standing before God was based on His mercy. The Tax Collector knew that he was lost. The Pharisee was lost too… but didn’t realise it.

Being justified is based on where our confidence is placed. Is it in you or is it in Jesus?

Verse 9 is a key verse to the Parable. Jesus tells this parable to some who were confident in their own righteousness and looked down on others: people just like the Pharisee. The problem for us is that we unknowingly pray a prayer like the Pharisee. We say: “Thank you God that I’ve responded to you like the Tax Collector. Thank you that I’m not like other people: like Pharisees and other religious nuts.” When we pray like that we need to be reminded not to be self-righteous.

Where is your confidence?
How do you treat the ‘sinner’ that comes into your youth group/church?
How do you treat the self-righteous religious person that comes into your midst?
————-
Part 6 of Lost and Found. I’m writing a series of talks and studies on Lost and Found. These aren’t talks or studies… just some thinking. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.

The Prodigal Son. He’s famous. His story is famous. It’s a much loved story of God’s amazing love.

The Older Son. He isn’t famous. His story isn’t well known. Often when we reflect on Luke 15 we stop at verse 24.

We have the story of the Lost Sheep (vv1-7).
We have the story of the Lost Coin (vv8-10).
We have the story of the Lost Son (vv11-24).
We forget the story of the Lost Son II (vv25-32).

It’s obvious that the younger son is lost. He tells his dad that he wishes he were dead (v12). He gets his share of the inheritance early and moves to a foreign land and wastes it all in wild living (v13). When tough times hit – the son comes to his senses and returns to his loving Father (v20).

There are two types of people present when Jesus tells these three parables: the tax collectors and sinners (v1) and the Pharisees and teachers of the law (v2). The tax collectors and sinners can clearly identify with the story of the Prodigal son. They, like the Prodigal, have wandered a far way from God and need to come home to him. They are the ones with ears to hear (14:35) who have come to hear (15:1) the offer of forgiveness from Jesus.

The Pharisees are more like the older son. They may not have wandered as far from God, they may not have squandered everything on wild living like the sinners and the first son, but they still need to recognise that without relationship with God they are lost. Their trust is in themselves rather than God. They claim to know God but don’t really know him.

What’s the point of this parable? There are two lost sons, not one. Both of them need to come home to their father. It seems that the first son does. The older son? Does he? We don’t find out. This is good – it leaves hope that even Pharisees (have you heard of Saul of Tarsus???) and religious nuts can come home to God.

Have you come home to God? God offers remarkable love and forgiveness in Jesus. The ultimate demonstration of God’s love is Jesus’ death for sinners (Romans 5:8). At the cross of Jesus, God is calling both religious nuts and worldly pagans, to come back home.