According to Luke: The Lost Coin

According to Luke: The Lost Coin

Opening Illustration:

Friends, what are some rules you live by? Think about it for a second. What are some general rules that you never break? Maybe you eat tacos every Tuesday. Maybe you only put 93 octane gas in your gas tanks. Do you wash your boat every time you take it out? 

Well I have one rule that I generally live by. When I go ✈️-skiing, I always remember to first remove my $150,000 earrings. It is just a rule of thumb I have. Atlanta Falcons wide receiver and Baldwin County native, Julio Jones is more of a daredevil than me, apparently, and during a jet-skiing excursion on Lake Lanier in northern Georgia a couple of years ago, he lost one of his glitzy earrings when he was tossed from his watercraft after hitting a boat wake. And so he did what any owner of $150,000 earrings would do: he hired a dive team to try to find the lost accessory. 

It did not work. The dive team hired by Jones tried to scour the lake floor 65 fee below the surface, hoping that the diamond would glint in the light. They came up empty. Right now, at the bottom of Lake Lanier, is an earring that is worth $150,000. If you find it, Julio would like to talk to you. 

Point:

That is an extreme story but have you ever lost something valuable? Maybe a wedding ring or a family heirloom? All of us have priceless artifacts that encompass our lives and if they were to go missing, we would be heartbroken. 

Maybe you have lost something only to have it turn up in an unexpected place. Do you remember that feeling of when you found it? You were more than happy! You were joyful! You were exuberant! There is something that is just plain awesome when we find that one thing that was once lost that has suddenly become found. 

Point:

In Luke 15, we encounter 3 parables of Jesus. Three narratives. Each story is different but they all share the same message. Some scholars call Luke 15 the Gospel within the Gospel. The stories remind us that things get lost. Sheep get lost. Coins going missing. Sons leave their Fathers. They also remind us when something is lost, someone searches. The shepherd searches for the sheep. The woman seeks the coin. The Father awaits the son’s return. Then after being found, the party starts. Different stories with the same results. So, as we examine the story of the lost coin, remember the roadmap of the lost narratives, something forgotten, something found, and then the festivities. 

The Lost Narratives In A Nutshell: Forgotten, Found, and Festivities!

Background and Context:

I’m just going to come right out and say it. I feel that I have been beating around the bush for several weeks but I suppose that the truth is the best route. The Pharisees hated common people. They hated people who were not as religious as them. They hated anyone that stood in opposition to them. They absolutely hated Jesus and they wanted Him dead. 

In contrast to the Pharisees, Jesus loved people. He loved all people and He especially loved sinners. He ministered to drunks, ate with thieves, touched the diseased and deformed, allowed prostitutes to work in His ministry, and called abusers to be His disciples. The Pharisees loved the law. They were all about the rules. Jesus loved liberating people from the law and ran towards the wicked. The Pharisees were racists who hid behind their public holiness. Jesus loved the Samaritan woman and called Gentiles from all nations to His side.

There is no clearer contrast to these two groups: the Pharisees and Jesus, than what is captured in Luke 15. Luke 15 is all about lost things being found. It is a picture of joy when lost people come to Christ and receive forgiveness and transformation. There is joy at home and there is exceeding joy in heaven when the sheep is found, the coin is discovered, and the son finally comes home. 

Today, we are going to read about the lost coin. The second parable in Luke 15. Open your Bibles to Luke 15:8-10 and let’s read together. 

Scripture:

Luke 15:8-10 ESV

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? 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.’ 10 Just so, I tell you, there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”

3 Points From Jesus’ Parable!

I. The Woman’s Search vs. 8

Luke 15:8 ESV

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?

Point:

Remember first that Jesus was just a few short months from HIs eventual crucifixion and death. He was moving from small village to small village and encountering the poor, the sick, and the destitute along the way. The parable that Jesus tells would have deeply resonated with the hearers. 

Jesus said that the woman had ten silver coins, and she lost one coin. A silver coin was a day’s wages for a laborer. It is likely that the ten silver coins were given to the woman by her husband to provide for the family for a week or two. She may have tied the coins up in a cloth but the knot worked loose and a coin fell out. She knew that the coin was in the house because she had not been outside. And so she lit a lamp and swept the house and sought diligently until she found the coin.

Point:

Can you see the desperation of the woman searching for the lost coin? Scripture says that she was diligent in the search. The Greek word is e-pē-me-lō’s. It means that she searched carefully. It means that she looked underneath furniture. She sought every corner of the house looking for this one missing coin. Remember, she still had 9 coins left, but it was the one missing coin that captivated her attention. 

Point:

Can you see the similarity with the lost sheep and the shepherd? Both the shepherd and the woman were captivated with the one thing that they had lost. The one object that was missing. Friends, remember that we are the lost coin. We are the lost sheep. We have all gone astray, we have all fallen out of the fold, chosen our own path. Isn’t it comforting to know that the shepherd, that the woman of the story represents God searching for us. They never give up on the search. 

Point:

Like the woman in the parable, God has used a light to find the lost things in the world. Remember John 8:12 ESV.

John 8:12 ESV

Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”

Point:

God sent His light into the world and that light had a name, the name above all other names. That is of course the name of Jesus. 

Illustration:

You probably have never heard of a woman named Belquis Sheikh. She accepted Christ in 1966. Before that she was married to a high ranking Pakistani government official. Before she was a believer, she was a prominent member of the Muslim religion. Before her conversion, her parents died and her husband divorced her. She became a recluse, she was alone and disappointed. She poured herself into the Koran and she began to notice a name that appeared many times in the text, the name that she noticed was the name of Jesus. She began to investigate Jesus in other texts. A gentleman gave her a Bible and she began to read it. 

Not long after that her grandson who she was raising fell ill. He was admitted to a Catholic hospital and she remained at this bedside. She encountered a Christian doctor there who encouraged her to pray to God, her Father! This concept was completely unfamiliar to her and her Muslim faith. While praying for her grandson and herself, she called God her Father and received Christ as her Savior. 

Her life was totally transformed. The lost woman living in darkness had now been found by the light of Christ. Sheikh wrote a book about her conversion entitled “I Dared To Call Him Father”. It sold a half a million copies around the world. She became a missionary and led thousands of Muslims to Jesus Christ. 

Belquis Sheikh was the lost sheep, she was the lost coin, and God diligently searched for her and found her. 

Point:

If God can find her, He can find anyone, anywhere, at anytime. There is always hope. 

Application:

Brothers and sisters, who can you reach for Christ today. Perhaps you are the one needing to be found. Maybe you are the one with the Bible in hand. Maybe you are the one to encourage someone to pray for the very first time. God wants to use you to be the light in someone’s darkest hour. 

3 Points From Jesus’ Parable!

I. The Woman’s Search vs. 8

II. The Woman’s Success vs. 9

Luke 15:9 ESV

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.’

Point:

So the woman begins to search for the coin. She sweeps. She looks. She lights a lamp. She looks some more. Finally, she apprehends the coins. She has found it. 

Point:

There is something so satisfying about finding something or someone that was lost. 

Point:

Many of you may not know this, but my Mother was orphaned not long after she was born. Her Father, my grandfather died in a plane crash and my grandmother, her Mom tragically died in an 18 wheeler accident not long after. My Mom grew up with my great grandparents with her sister. My Mom never new her parents and this has always been a severe source of pain for her. Growing up, my Mom had scattered pictures of her parents all over the house. She told stories about them that were told to her by her family. Even though she never knew him, she called her Dad “Daddy” which always seemed so personal and heartfelt. Pictures is all I ever knew of the man and in my younger days, my Mom said that I favored him a lot. 

Not long ago, someone in our family sent us a link from YouTube. The video was called Operation Titanic. You can look it up today. The family member told us that Mom’s Dad, my grandfather, was featured briefly in the video. If you were to fast forward 30 minutes, you will see a man dancing with a woman. He is handsome. He is graceful. He is smiling and looking directly at the camera. That dancing dashing man was my grandfather. A man Ive never known but through pictures and old stories. Yet, there he is…dancing. There he is…moving, smiling, happy. 

My Mom who had never witnessed her Father do anything but remain still in a photograph erupted in tears and joy. He may have been on the screen for 4-5 seconds, but it was enough for her to see her Daddy happy. 

Something that she had lost had suddenly been found. A missing man. A glowing Father had been rediscovered for that orphaned girl. It really was something special to see. 

Point:

I share this detail about my family because I believe that is what God feels when He finds us. He searches us out, discovers us, and take such delight in bringing us back to a relationship with Him. You see, some try to work there way back to God. Others punish themselves hoping that God will forgive them. Friends, stop. You do not have to do anything, be anyone, go anywhere. Just let God bring you back to Him. 

Ezekiel 34:11-12 ESV

11 “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.

3 Points From Jesus’ Parable!

I. The Woman’s Search vs. 8

II. The Woman’s Success vs. 9

III. The Woman’s Satisfaction vs. 9-10

Luke 15:9-10 ESV

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.’ 10 Just so, I tell you, there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”

Point:

After the woman discovers the coin, she throws a party. She invites her friends and her neighbors over telling them to rejoice. Notice, just like the lost sheep, there are really two celebrations. There is a celebration on earth and there is a celebration at home. 

Illustration:

Do you know what this is? I guess you would call it a small bunny blanket. This bunny blanket belongs to my oldest son Jay. No, he does not use it anymore but boy, when he was about 3-4, this was the most important thing in his life. He called it “Bunnit”. Bunnit with Jay everywhere. The car. The house. His bed. They were attached at the hip. Sadly one day, Bunnit went missing. We looked everywhere for him. He was no where to be found. 

About 6 months later, I was emptying out the basement. I grabbed the old wheelbarrow in the corner and out spilled a dirty, dusty, and dark clothe. It was Bunnit. Jay must have put him in there and forgot. When I came upstairs with that small bunny blanket, there was a tremendous celebration. We danced and sang. We called my parents and in-laws. Man that was a great day. 

You see, when we lose something and then find it, we want others to share our joy. That is why we raise hands and say “Amen” when someone accepts Christ. That is why we clap at the end of baptisms. That is why we invite our families to church when we dedicate babies. We love sharing our joy and there is no greater joy than when someone who is lost becomes found. 

Point: 

There is a celebration on earth. Then there is a celebration in heaven. Just like the lost sheep, when it returns there is joy in the home and in heaven. 

Jesus concluded with the main point of the parable in verse 10, “Just so, I tell you, there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”

A Hasidic story tells of a great celebration in heaven after the Israelites are delivered from the Egyptians at the Red Sea, and the Egyptian armies are drowned. The angels are cheering and dancing. Everyone in heaven is full of joy.

Then one of the angels asks the archangel Michael, “Where is God? Why isn’t God here celebrating?”

Michael answers, “God is not here because he is off by himself weeping. You see, many thousands were drowned today.”

God says in Ezekiel 18:23, “Have I any pleasure in the death of the wicked, declares the Lord God, and not rather that he should turn from his way and live?” 

God does not delight in the death of unrepentant sinners.

But, he does delight in the repentance of sinners.

I don’t want you to miss Jesus’ careful statement in verse 10. We tend to think that it is the angels who are rejoicing. But, actually, Jesus is saying that there is joy before the angels of God. Who is rejoicing here? It is God who is rejoicing before the angels. God is filled with joy when a sinner repents of his or her sin.

It is interesting that the story of the lost sheep and the lost coin are symbols of repentance. But that is what Jesus says they are. The sheep is an animate object whose bleating might help the shepherd find him. But the coin is completely inanimate. The entire burden for the rescue rests upon the woman. Kenneth Bailey says that “repentance is being found.” The coin did nothing in order to be found. It was entirely the action of the woman that found the coin.

Ezekiel 18:23 ESV

23 Have I any pleasure in the death of the wicked, declares the Lord God, and not rather that he should turn from his way and live?

Closing:

So what is our application point this morning? 

I heard a story recently about a young man who took his first job at a movie theater. The story goes that a young man applied for a job as an usher at a theater in the mall. The manager asked him, “What would you do in case a fire breaks out?”

The young guy answered, “Don’t worry about me. I’d get out okay.”

That’s how we respond sometimes.

“What would you do if Jesus came back tomorrow?”

“Oh, don’t worry about me. I’d be okay.”

We are like ushers. Our task is to help people escape the coming judgment. Our task is to find people, who are like lost coins, and point them to the salvation that is found only in Jesus Christ. Let us do so with diligence so that we can rejoice in the salvation of the lost.

Point People To God’s Presence Today!