Joy Over One Sinner

 

 

Sermon September 15 2013      Joy over One Sinner

Jeremiah 4:11-12, 22-28

For my people are foolish, they do not know me; they are stupid children, they have no understanding.  They are skilled in doing evil, but do not know how to do good. (v. 22).

One can almost feel the divine frustration.  God is speaking from his frustrations and disappointment.

The call to Repentance is REAL. God is calling to us this morning.

The people’s inability to follow the rules is not the core problem, but a symptom of a deep and abiding spiritual ignorance.

The people refuse to change course because they fundamentally do not understand that they need to change.

Arrogance is not appreciated to God.  It is an abomination . Proverbs 8:13 says it like this:

The fear of the Lord is to hate evil:   Pride and arrogancy, and the evil way, and the forward mouth do I hate.

Psalm 14

Fools say in their hearts, “There is no God;.”…

 v. 3 They have all gone astray, they are all alike perverse; there is no one who does good, no , not one.

When we get divided over simple issues and start acting like children we act as if there is no God. We act as if we have all gone astray. 

I Timothy 1:12-17 The Lord’s Grace to Paul

¹² I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has given me strength, that he considered me trustworthy, appointing me to his service. ¹³ Even though I was once a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent man, I was shown mercy because I acted in ignorance and unbelief. ¹⁴ The grace of our Lord was poured out on me abundantly, along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.

¹⁵ Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst.

Luke 15: 1-10

Even Jesus had his problems with the Pharisees. It was a constant nit picking against him and the mission he came to do.  In today’s text they said : This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them.

So He (Jesus) told them this parable:  which one of you, having a hundred sheep and losing one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the one that is lost until he finds them?

So many outside the church today feel lost. And yet even in the midst of our churches  we experience people that feel Rejected. Unloved, Hurt. As the body of Christ we must pull together and share the love of Christ.

I feel lost when I lose my patience, my sense of humor, my integrity, or my sense of purpose.

I feel frustrated, weary, and vaguely troubled.  I feel lost even when I am at home with people who love me most.  I wander off and cannot think of any reason anybody should come looking for me.

The woman in the text is looking for the needle in the haystack, diligently sweeping the dust out of the way, shining a light in the dark corners.

God keeps seeking our company, trying to show us the good life.  God looks for us through caring people, sacred stories, prayer, and worship.  God is a hope that pursues us, a comfort that gathers us home, and a love that embraces.

We are never as indifferent to God as we might think, for the “lost” feeling is the longing for grace.  We need to pay attention to the whispers of God’s love, because we are not deaf to the sound of God’s voice.

We can live in grace beyond what we understand.  When we accept the truth that God accepts us, the parts of us that embarrass us do not usually vanish, but they are changed in the light of grace.

We do not suddenly lose our short tempers, vanity, sharp tongues, and talents for self-promotion and self-delusion, but we are found by a goodness that helps us accept all that we are.  We learn to rely on God more than we rely on ourselves.

We are here because we know what it is to be lost, and we know what it is to be found

Our story is of wandering off yet being sought,  being wounded yet healed, confused yet cared for, broken –hearted yet loved, foolish yet forgiven,  Lost yet found.

Rejection hurts.  We can see how it made God Feel in the opening of our scriptures this morning.