Search and Rescue!

Follow up to last week's message “We’re on a Mission”, 16th March 2014

Video - Forrest Gump "we’ve got to find Bubba" (DVD).

Today we’re going to look a little bit at the Lost and Found or Search and Rescue Mission of the church.  This really follows on from what I was sharing last week about the Mission to Extend the Kingdom of God.

Luke 15: 1-10; 24: Now the tax collectors and sinners were all gathering round to hear Jesus. 2 But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, ‘This man welcomes sinners, and eats with them.’

3 Then Jesus told them this parable: 4 ‘Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Doesn’t he leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? 5 And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders 6 and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbours together and says, “Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.” 7 I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous people who do not need to repent.

The parable of the lost coin

8 ‘Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins and loses one. Doesn’t she light a lamp, sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it? 9 And when she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbours together and says, “Rejoice with me; I have found my lost coin.” 10 In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents…..

24: For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.” So they began to celebrate.

1. Welcoming the Lost (2)

First let me tell you a story.  It happened this week in the wacky news section!

Woman accidentally joins search party looking for herself

A missing woman on vacation in Iceland managed to unwittingly join a search party looking for herself.

Toronto Sun reports that a tourist group traveling by bus to the volcanic Eldgja canyon made a pit stop near the canyon park. The woman in question went inside to freshen up and change her clothes at the rest stop, and when she came back “her bus-mates didn’t recognise her.”

Word spread among the group of a missing passenger, and the woman didn’t recognise the description of herself. Next thing you know, a 50-person search party was canvassing the area, and the coast guard was mobilising to deploy a search party of its own.

About 3am, someone in the group finally figured out that the missing woman was actually in the search party, albeit in different clothes, and the search was called off.

No word on what kind of wardrobe was involved in this woman’s “freshening up.”  But her sense of self-image must be way out of whack to join a search party until 3am without even suspecting for a minute that the woman in the description bore some resemblance to herself. 

They ate with Jesus.  There is a a balance her e that we need to strike.  Sometimes we don’t hang around with sinners because we feel we will ‘catch’ something.  After all, that’s Biblical right? Do not be misled: ‘Bad company corrupts good character.’  1 Corinthians 15: 33.  Here Paul is directly quoting a Greek poet, Menander.

Here’s the issue: we can be with them but we should not act like them!  christ should radiate.  So we don’t do the things they do.  We don’t allow their behaviour to dictate ours.  That doesn’t mean that we cannot spend time with them.  

It does mean that are a boundaries on our relationship with them.  Light is supposed to shine into the darkness.  Darkness is not supposed to overcome light.  

2. Searching for the Lost (4,8,20)

In all three of these lost parables in Luke 15, the lost sheep, coin and son, there is a diligence about finding them.  Even the father in the prodigal son is diligent as he scans the horizon, presumably each day, for his son (4,8, cf. 20).

Sometimes we get so busy that we forget to look for that which is lost.

My first week at Bible college was an eventful one.  One of the things that happened is that I lost my pen - this pen.  OK. so it’s only a silver Parker pen.  It’s replaceable.  It was given to me as I went to Bible College and carries some sentimental value.  I looked for it.  Fretted about it.  In the end I just used a cheaper biro and carried on with my studies.

I guess we can be a bit like that with our lost friends.  We drift apart.  We don’t make regular contact.  We soon move on to new friendships.

“Hang on a minute”, you cry, “you have the pen!”  Yes I do.  The last week of Bible College I was in the student lounge and a student dropped some change out his his pocket whilst sitting on a couch.  He couldn’t get it out, so I helped him turn over the sofa and take some of the lining off the bottom.  We found his change and my pen!

I was so happy to find my pen.  I didn’t quite throw a party but I was just thrilled to have the gift back.

Our oneplusone initiative will help us to keep seeking the lost friends of ours.  They may be prodigals.  They might never have been to church.  By praying for them each day we begin to show a diligence in the search.  

By speaking to them weekly we begin to build a friendship.  By having coffee with them monthly we begin to develop trust.  By inviting them to church at least annually we begin to create a way to share our faith.

2 Peter 3:9: The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.

It is not on God’s will for anyone to perish.  If it’s not in His will, it shouldn’t be in ours.

3. Celebrating the Found (10)

Heaven is a loud place.  Right now it is very loud.  In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents (15:10).

How loud is heaven?  Well if the repentance of one sinner causes the angels to rejoice how much louder do they get if they respond to a hundred?  it’s hard to estimate accurately how many people are saved each day because those in the Arab world will keep their salvation secret and some countries don’t keep statistics.  Some estimate at least one person every second gives their lives to Jesus somewhere on the world.  

Heaven is loud.

The biggest party that churches should have is when someone is born again.  Baptism services should be times of celebration.  

People only celebrate their wins.  Sports teams, olympians, work places, graduations - all celebrations of wins!  These celebrations are born out of expectation and hard work.  

When someone is won for Christ we should be so excited!  We should have an expectation that people will get saved.  We should be working towards this, better equipping ourselves, for the harvest!

Wrapping this up

So what are we to do?  

We’re to get passionate about our mission.  It’s great to hear what is going on around the world.  

Wouldn’t it be great to get some harvest here too?  Wouldn’t it be awesome, instead of having a baptism once a quarter, we had them monthly?  

Wouldn't it be great to have an Alpha course full to capacity?  

Would it be great to have lots of successful oneplusone stories?  

It could be so.  

It just takes us to share our story with someone who is lost.