Luke 15:1-10 * July 11, 2004 * Pentecost 6* Pastor Peter Leyrer

Dear Friends in Christ,

What does the word “precious” mean to you? If you saw the Lord of the Rings movies, you remember that the ring was “precious” to many people. For those of you who didn’t see the movies, the magical ring in the movie was so “precious” to the people who sought it that they changed their behavior and their very lives for the ring. In the movie, most of those changes were for evil rather than good.

But maybe the example helps us figure out what “precious” means. We show that something is “precious” by what we’re willing to do for it. Anybody who’s held his or her precious baby for the first time understands that you change your life for the things that are truly precious. You work for them, you sacrifice for them, you fight for them, maybe even die for them. You live for them, because the things that are precious give your life meaning and purpose.

What does God consider “precious?” We can’t say that anything changes God’s attitude because God doesn’t change. But what does God work for, sacrifice for, fight for? God may not change, but if we are his people, the answer to that question will change us. We’ll listen to Jesus tell two parables today to help us answer the question:

“WHAT DOES ‘PRECIOUS’ MEAN?”

Throughout Jesus’ ministry a rift grew between him and the people who thought they were the religious experts of the day. In our story today we see the rift grow wider. The Pharisees and teachers of the law complain because they see Jesus with the bottom rung of the ladder of society – the tax collectors and “sinners” that good polite people don’t associate with. Their complaint against Jesus reveals their thinking – if Jesus really is a good teacher, he should be spending time with good people like them.

Their complaint also makes it clear whom the Pharisees and teachers of the law would consider “precious.” They think of themselves as “precious,” or at least more precious than most people. In answer to their complaint, Jesus fires off three parables to teach them about the people that God thinks of as “precious.” We’re looking at the first two of those parables.

Often we begin to realize something is precious when it is lost. If you lose a cheap ballpoint pen you’ll look for a little while before you decide that it’s not worth too much trouble. Lose your credit card and the search will be more intense. If you lose your child, the search may involve the police or the FBI and nobody will stop to wonder if you’re going to too much trouble.

In these parables, a man loses a sheep, a woman loses a coin. Their actions show how precious these lost things are. Can you see the shepherd climbing over rocks and pushing through thorn bushes? Can you imagine the woman on her hands and knees on a dirt floor, moving furniture and sweeping until she finds the coin?

But Jesus is talking about people. People are precious to God. That means we’re precious to God, but here’s the point that we forget sometimes: people are precious to God whether they are Christians or not. The young African man dying of pneumonia because the AIDS virus has ravaged his immune system is just as precious to God as you are. The woman in a temple in Taiwan who prays for some spirit to live in her grandson so that he will grow up to be wealthy is just as precious to God as I am. If we think of those people as less precious than we are, the first thing we are missing is probably a realization of our own sin. Is that young African’s adultery somehow more sinful than an American’s because he got caught? The woman in the temple in Taiwan is no less guilty of idolatry than we are when we make our own career plans and choices without regard for God’s will.

Jesus once said that his mission is to seek and to save that which is lost. He came to earth to let us know that God regards all people as precious. That includes each of us here, no matter what we have done, no matter what sins we have committed. And because God considers each one of us as precious, Jesus lived for us. He worked for us, fought for us. He died for us. When he did that he bore upon himself the penalty for our sins.

Sometimes as we think about our sins it’s easy to think of ourselves as much less than precious in the sight of God. At times like those, brothers and sisters, look at the cross. The precious blood of Jesus Christ that was shed there has washed you clean. You are precious in the sight of God.

And those people who live in far off countries, who have perhaps never heard the name of Jesus? They are also precious in the sight of God. Jesus’ mission included them. He shed his blood for them just as surely as he did for us. But there’s a big difference between them and us. Those precious people have not yet heard the good news of Jesus’ salvation yet. If they do not know Jesus as their Savior they will spend their lives bearing the burden of their sins, a burden that you do not have to bear. And that burden will finally drag them down to an eternity in hell.

That is not God’s will for the precious souls he created. Just like the hard work of the shepherd or the woman with the lost coin shows that something is precious, the hard work that Jesus did shows how precious he holds every soul.

Consider another movie that most of you probably also saw: The passion of the Christ. If you didn’t see it, I’m sure you know the story. Our Lord and Savior suffered temptation and sorrow, torture and finally a brutal death for us. That hard work has changed us. Our Lord and Savior also rose again from the dead so that we can live a new life for him. His new life in us means that now we look at things in a new light. Our priorities become his priorities. The people that he considers precious become precious to us.

During the closing days of 1995 I was serving as a pastor of a congregation full of people who I loved and who loved me. I was looking forward to and getting ready for the Christmas season when I received a phone call. I was being called to serve as a missionary in Taiwan. As the Lord led my wife and me to a decision and after we moved our priorities changed. There was a new language to learn, a new culture to understand. There was hard work to be done, and there still is hard work to be done. But those are precious souls, just as precious as mine and yours, in Taiwan.

And I dare not say that we’re the only ones doing hard work. It’s hard work for you in congregations like this one when budget time comes around and you have to make difficult choices about balancing your needs against the needs of precious souls that you have never met in far flung corners of the world. There’s hard work to be done when families have to decide how much of their budgets will support mission work. It’s hard work to say good-bye to loved ones when they leave for the mission field. We do the hard work because the Savior who lived and died and who now lives in each of us has given us new attitudes and new hearts.

As you probably know, we missionaries come back for summer furlough every two years. There are lots of reasons why these furloughs are a good idea, lots of reasons why it’s good for us to come back. Let me share with you one reason why I come back. I come back for bratwurst. Don’t get me wrong, I honestly believe you can get some of the best food in the world in Taiwan. But you can’t get a bratwurst. And you can’t get the kind of doughnuts that they sell at the Super America stores here. I guess what I mean is we like to have a good time when we’re in the United States.

The good times are part of mission work too. You see, both of the stories that Jesus tells in our text for today have happy endings, and we miss an important point if we don’t take note of that. The shepherd finds his sheep and calls his friends over for a party. The woman with the lost coin does the same. So how do we know that the sheep and the coin are precious items? We know because of the way these two people react when that which was lost has been found.

Sure, there’s hard work. Missionaries and their families work hard and make sacrifices and so do the people that support them. But Jesus says that every soul that repents and believes the good news is reason for rejoicing. A few years ago a Taiwanese woman whose life had been shattered by a divorce accepted an invitation to church. She continued coming to church and in time learned more about her Savior and the Lord led her to faith. She was baptized and the angels rejoiced.

Her family would not accept her new faith, but they saw the change in her. She kept sharing the reason for the hope that she had, especially with her father. This past spring the doctors said her father wouldn’t live much longer, and she kept talking to him about his Savior. He was baptized not long ago. The angles rejoiced again that day. The last I heard he was still clinging to life, but it won’t be long now. Can you imagine the “welcome home” party the angels will throw for him when he arrives in the heavenly home Christ has set aside for him?

About a year ago a young man in Taiwan met a young woman and they began to date. It happens all the time, all over the world. But this young woman is a Christian and she invited her friend to church. Over time he learned about something that was very important in his girlfriend’s life. Over time the Savior became important in his life and he was baptized this past spring. The angels rejoiced that day.

Since then this young man has said he’d like to learn more – he’d like to study for the ministry. The Savior continues to seek and save those who are lost. And with each one found, there is joy and celebration in heaven. God is happy. Brothers and sisters, let’s be happy as well. The gospel is at work here and around the world. Precious souls are being found and reclaimed. The angels are rejoicing. How can we do otherwise?