Sinners in the Hands of a Loving God
Lk 15:1-10
Intro:
The Great Awakening
In 1730 and for 25 years the Untied States of America experienced a revival. This
amazing period of time is called the Great Awakening. In New England alone ten
percent of the total population of 300,000 were added to the churches between 1740
and 1742. Total converts to Christianity reached 50,000 out of a total of 250,000
colonists in New England . It is estimated that a further 30,000 souls were converted
through George Whitefield’s numerous visits to America from 1739 onwards. 150 new
Congregational churches were established in twenty years. The increase of Baptist
churches in the last half of the century, was still more wonderful, rising from 9 to
upwards of 400 in number, with a total of thirty thousand members. There was a
similar growth in the Presbyterian and other churches. Nine Christian university
colleges were established in the colonies.
Jonathon Edwards
One of the great preachers of the time period woke in the morning of July 8, 1741
and went to church to preach a message that would become one of the hallmark
messages of the time period and even one that is still studied to this very day. He
preached the sermon in Enfield Connecticut. His name was Jonathon Edwards and
the sermon was entitled, Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God.
Sinners in the hands of an angry God
The sermon was like so many of the day. It helped people to realize that they were
sinners and that just because they weren’t in hell at that particular moment, did not
mean that they did not deserve to go there nor did it mean that God was not angry
with them for their sin. The message told the people in that historical moment that it
was only the pleasure of God that kept them from an immediate departure from this
life to the next life in Hell. Many were indeed saved that day as they would even
interrupt the sermon to ask how they could be saved!
But love is the other side of wrath
The sermon’s title belies part of it’s message however, because much of the
message of Edward’s sermon focused on the grace and love of God that keeps
people from Hell and seeks to save them from the wrath of God. Certainly the wrath
of God is real and God is angry at sin and rebels. But he other side of the wrath of
God is His amazing love for people – yes even sinners.
As in these parables – sinners in the hands of a loving God
Jesus makes this clear in a series of parable He tells in Luke 15 about sinners. The
emphasis is not wrath, but love. So today, after 271 od Sinners in the Hands of an
Angry God, I want to emphasize the other side of that coin and talk to us about
Sinners in the Hands of a Loving God.
Let’s pray and then turn to these wonderful parables that Jesus teaches to highlight
the atmosphere for sinners in God’s hands.
Pray
I.
Setting (1-3)
The setting for our study in in the first three verses of Chapter 15.
Lk 15:1–3 Now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear him. 2
And the Pharisees and the scribes grumbled, saying, “This man receives sinners and
eats with them.” 3 So he told them this parable:
The characters: Tax Collectors and Sinners and religious
The setting begins with some seedy characters. Luke categorizes them by how they
were seen and referred to in his society. The tax collectors were seen as basic
traitors to their heritage and people. They were Jews who were hired by the Romans
to collect taxes from Jews. They got personally rich via extortion and theft using and
abusing their authority as they saw fit. They were rich, but they were total outcasts
and totally disdained and scorned by their fellow countrymen.
The other characters that are setting the scene are the people who Luke simply calls
sinners. This was a general term for people who had chosen a lifestyle that was
unfaithful to God’s Law. The “sinners” had forfeited their relationship with God by the
way they lived their lives. So they would be people like adulterers, prostitutes,
homosexuals, alcoholics, brawlers, thieves, and the like. Simply people who were
outcasts from a religious society because of their sinful lifestyle and who made no
real attempt to fit in. They were sinners and they knew it and they pretty much had
given up any hope or desire of being otherwise. They were THE sinners.
These were drawing near
It is these people who were, as the text tells us – drawing near to Jesus!
Lk 15:1–3 Now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear him.
Luke even says that they were “all” drawing near as a way to emphasize just how
many sinners were coming to him – it just seemed like all of them!!
The other characters were obviously in the Pharisees and Scribes. They, as we have
said multiple times, were the religious people of the day possessing of all the
authority that came to them in such a society. They were seen as righteous and
believed themselves to be so.
The Precipitating Action: Grumbling
Now, the parables come as a result of something. This is not teaching that Jesus had
on His docket for the day. The parables are precipitated by an action. That action
gave rise to the parables. We know this because of v.3
Lk 15:3 So he told them this parable:
What was the precipitating action? Grumbling!
Lk 15:1–3 Now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear him. 2
And the Pharisees and the scribes grumbled, saying, “This man receives sinners and
eats with them.”
Grumbling
So the Tax collectors and sinners coming near to Jesus and this causes the Scribes
and Pharisees to grumble. Let’s understand this a little bit better. What is grumbling?
To grumble means to murmur and express frustration and disappointment because
some supposedly legitimate expectation is not met. It is a strong personal attitude of
disappointment expressed negatively because something did not happen he way it
was supposed to have a happened. So, for example, in Ex 16:2 the people left Egypt
delivered by miracles at God’s hand, but they expected that they would have all the
same foods and provisions in the wilderness that they had back in captivity. When
they saw that they did not have all the abundant food what did they do? They
grumbled against Moses and the Lord. God called this a despising of God and
unbelief in Nu 14:11!!
Grumbling is laying a claim to grace and then being angry with God when He does not
perform as you desire. Grumbling is not believing in What God says, but expecting
from God what you already think is right and beneficial.
So life is full of disappointments and unmet expectations right? Thus, life is filled with
opportunities to grumble. When an expectation is not met it leads to disappointment.
When we experience disappointment,
we have two choices. #1 we can pray, or
change our minds, or seek a solution with God. Or #2 we can grumble against God or
against the people we see as being at fault.
God would have you align your expectations with what he is saying and doing to lead
to change in your heart and not have preconceived idea of what is good and right and
beneficial and when god does something different you sit there and grumble against
Him.
The Pharisees expected different behavior from Jesus
But the Pharisees that day chose option #2. They fully expected that a righteous
man would not allow tax collectors and sinners to come near him. They had every
reason to think that such behavior was wrong. They were even taught in later years
by a tractate which said “Let not a man associate with the wicked, even to bring him
near to the Law”!
So int heir minds they had a legitimate, defendable claim that a Rabbi such as Jesus
should not behave in this unbecoming and even defiling way. And instead of praying
and changing their assumptions, the grumbled.
SO
So… so… (v.3) So!! So Jesus told them these parables. The parables are there to
help the Pharisees and scribes to choose option 1 – God is acting outside my
expectations here, I guess I should find out why and change my heart! Jesus, through
the use of the following parables is giving an explanation for why he allows sinners to
draw near to him. Why would he do that? Don’t grumble, find out more about who
God really is!!!
II.
The Parables about Lost Things
3 Parallel and intensified parables
Now, one more thing before we look at the first two parables. There are three
parables here in chapter 15 that are directly parallel with one another and in fact
were told that way on purpose and they actually intensify as they are told to drive
home the point even further. What do I mean?
I mean that they are parallel – that is, the three parables are making the same point.
They are also intensifying – that is they escalate the drama as they are told to drive
that repeated point home even deeper. For example, in the first parable a man who
100 sheep loses 1; in the second a woman (who can earn less than a man) has 10
coins and loses 1; and in the third parable (next week) a Father who has two sons
loses 1! The repeated theme is loss and it intensifies from 1% to 10% to 50%!
Preview: Loss – Search – Response
The parables repeat themselves along three themes. Loss, the search, and the
response of finding the thing lost. We are going to look that the first two parables at
the same time by way of these themes. Let’s do that right now!
A. The Loss
Parable 1
Let’s begin with the loss in the first parable. Take a look at verse 3-4a
Lk 15:3–4- So he told them this parable: 4 “What man of you, having a hundred
sheep, if he has lost one of them…
A moderate flock that he counts – one missing
A sheep is lost by a Shepherd. The Shepherd is one of moderate means. Many
flocks of sheep could number about 300 sheep. Close to 100-200 might be more of
the average. So this Shepherd is doing ok. We know also that this is probably a solo
operation because he is the one who is keeping, counting, and the searching for his
sheep. So he has 100 sheep and per custom he would put them in a sheep pen at
night and as they entered he would count them. And one particular evening he
counted, 96, 97, 98, 99… ugh!! One missing. A lost sheep. 1 out of 100. What will
he do?
We’ll find out in a few minutes. Let’s look at the loss in the second parable.
Parable 2
Look at v.8a
Lk 15:8- “Or what woman, having ten silver coins, if she loses one coin…
A more valuable Coin
This coin is now one of ten. The original language tells this is a drachma which was
worth about 1 day’s average wage. So it is valuable! The median income for Skagit
County is around $58,000. One day’s wage of that is about $159. So this lady lost
$159, but also keep in mind that she only had $1590! Interestingly, this is about how
much a sheep would have cost.
She lost something valuable. What will she do? We’ll find out, but let’s go the second
repeated theme which is the search in parable 1.
B. The Search
Parable 1
Jesus also wishes to emphasize the search for the lost thing. Check out v.4
Lk 15:4- “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?
The details of the search
The shepherd obviously goes and searches, but let’s notice the details about that
search.
Leave = shows emphasis
The first detail is in the word “leave”. This is the greek word kataleipei which comes
from the word for “that which remains”. It is the left over, or the remnant. So the 99
sheep that are in the fold are now called the remains, or the left overs, or the
remnant. This wording means that the emphasis is not on the “left overs”, but it is
upon the one that is lost. There are 99 secure, but there is one lost, therefore we are
focused with intensity and energy and concern upon the lost one.
There were two snowboarders rescued this week off of Mount Rainier. They were two
nights on the mountain before one of the several search teams made it to them. For
two full days, the emphasis was upon them! There was not an attitude that said, well
there are thousands of snowboarders, who cares about a couple lost on the mountain
so early in the season. The emphasis was on the ones in need.
So the point of Jesus’ word usage is that the shepherd’s emphasis is not on the
remnant in the fold, but on the one lost in the wilderness.
Go = a journey
What the shepherd does, Jesus tells us, is Go. He goes after the one that it is lost.
This is a word for a departure on a journey. So this Shepherd is committing to a
serious search.
Until he finds it = the commitment
The last detail about the shepherd’s search is that he is going to search until when?
Midnight? Until it hits 35 degrees? Until his arthritis acts up? Until his shift is over?
No, until he finds it. So the shepherd is focused on the lost sheep, is prepared for a
long journey if necessary, and is committed to actually finding the sheep. In this
context it would be that the shepherd will either find the sheep or find his carcass and
then and only then is the search complete.
How intensive is the search that Jesus s talking about!
Parable 2
As you can imagine, the search in parable 2 is more intense.
Lk 15:8- “Or what woman, having ten silver coins, if she loses one coin, does not light
a lamp and sweep the house and seek diligently until she finds it?
House and flooring Explained
This woman has lost a coin. But most people lived in windowless houses and we
presume that this is a nighttime event. The coin is very small and the house is very
dark. Furthermore, the stone floor would have crevices in them into which a coin
could have fallen. In fact archeologists find coins in the floors of homes they find and
are thus able to date the house by the coin found! Or, if the floor was straw, you can
imagine how a coin, falling amongst all that could easily be lost.
How many times have you dropped something small onto your carpet and known right
where you dropped it, but still for life of you cannot find it? Such was her plight. But it
was a day’s wage. It was enough to buy a whole sheep.
So she doesn’t wait till morning, she lights a lamp, gets out her broom so that if the
floor is straw she’ll sweep it away inch by inch until the coin is found, or if the floor is
stone, she’ll maybe hear that coin ringing on the stone as she sweeps. She is going
to sweep the house!!
Thus diligent
Her search is diligent, Jesus says. The word means with great care or in every corner.
The lost thing in both cases is searched for with diligence and focused concern.
C. The Response
In both parables, the lost thing is found. We come then to the final shared element
which is the response of the one who searched and found.
Parable 1
Lk 15:5–6- And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. 6 And when
he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them,
‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.’
The Shepherd lays that sheep with tender care and love on his shoulders rejoicing!
His personal response is love and tenderness and joy! Then he gets back to the
village and wants to make it a communal event. Rejoice with me for my sheep was
lost but now it is found.
So there is individual joy that gets expanded by the finder to a community rejoicing
together.
Parable 2
What response do we see in v.9?
Lk 15:9- And when she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors,
saying, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I had lost.’
The exact response! Personal rejoicing (with me) that wants to rejoice in community.
She literally calls her lady friends (Friends and neighbors in the feminine gender) to
come over and rejoice that she found her $159!!
D. The Meaning
Then Jesus gives the meaning for the parables in v.7 and 10. It is the same point in
both.
Parable 1
Lk 15:7- Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who
repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.
Meaning = heaven rejoices when a sinner repents.
Parable 2
Lk 15:10- Just so, I tell you, there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who
repents.”
Meaning = heaven rejoices when a sinner repents.
E. The Players
Very quickly, before we get to our lessons, let’s just make sure we are all on the same
page. Who are the real players that the characters in the parable represent?
1. The Searcher is God
2. The Lost things are sinners
3. The Rejoicers are Friends and family of God
4. No grumblers. Why not? He’s in the third parable…
Now we can draw out some takeaways.
III.
Our Takeaways
1. God sees sinners as lost people who need to be found.
That means that he does not see them as people to be avoided, but they are people
to bring the Gospel to.
2. There is something about the real Jesus that draws sinners
His grace, the sweetness of his forgiveness, his love – all these draw someone ready
to be forgiven to Him.
3. God has a shepherds heart that pursues the lost
Jewish people in Jesus’ day would have known that God welcomes the sinner. But
now they were seeing that God pursues the sinner.
Lk 19:10- For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”
Eze 34:11–22 “For thus says the Lord God: Behold, I, I myself will search for my
sheep and will seek them out. 12 As a shepherd seeks out his flock when he is
among his sheep that have been scattered, so will I seek out my sheep, and I will
rescue them from all places where they have been scattered on a day of clouds and
thick darkness….16 I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind
up the injured, and I will strengthen the weak, and the fat and the strong I will destroy. I
will feed them in justice…22 I will rescue my flock; they shall no longer be a prey. And
I will judge between sheep and sheep.
4. God has a shepherd’s heart that loves the found one
Used to love to be on my father’s shoulders.
That’s an old biblical picture of the tender love and support God gives us.
Is 49:22- Thus says the Lord God: “Behold, I will lift up my hand to the nations, and
raise my signal to the peoples; and they shall bring your sons in their arms, and your
daughters shall be carried on their shoulders.
Is 40:11- He will tend his flock like a shepherd; he will gather the lambs in his arms; he
will carry them in his bosom, and gently lead those that are with young.
Ps 28:9- Oh, save your people and bless your heritage! Be their shepherd and carry
them forever.
Is 46:4- 4 even to your old age I am he, and to gray hairs I will carry you. I have made,
and I will bear; I will carry and will save.
5. We have a rejoicing God
Some think of God like an austere impassive ocean, or like a stern father. He is a
loving God who rejoices and hugs and laughs and dances for joy.
Imagine if you lost a child but finally found him months later. How would you feel?
How would you rejoice? That is how God rejoices!
6. God’s family rejoices over the same thing
When he rejoices over something it is because it is important to Him and His mission.
Thus when we see something that is an accomplishment of God’s mission, we rejoice.
God’s friends and family can be known by what they rejoice over.
7. God’s enemies grumble over what God rejoices over
8. Sinners must repent to know this love
The point for the sinner is not God’s unconditional love. The point is that God’s love
allows for them to come to Him and be forgiven when they so desire. Repentance is
the key to the experience of God’s love.
Lk 15:7- Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who
repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.
Lk 15:10- Just so, I tell you, there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who
repents.”