Listen for the word of God as it is found in Luke 15:1-10. Now all the tax collectors and sinners were coming near to listen to him. And the Pharisees and the scribes were grumbling and saying, "This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them." So he 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 it? When he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders and rejoices. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, 'Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.' 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.
Or what woman having ten silver coins, if she loses one of them, does not light a lamp, sweep the house, and search carefully until she finds it? 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.' Just so, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents."
This ends our reading from the gospel of Luke. This text from Luke always bothered me a little bit. How can one group of believers cause more joy in heaven than another group of believers? Shouldn't they be valued equally?
I remember the time my family visited OMSI (Oregon Museum of Science and Industry), and Eleanor vanished. We looked all over for her. Then we notified the OMSI volunteers and staff. It took me about fifteen minutes to find her. It turned out she was waiting behind a post by the restrooms, just out of every one's line of sight. The entire staff rejoiced when we found her. They weren't rejoicing at all the children who had managed to stay with their parents the whole day, but for my Eleanor, who was lost and then was found. They didn't value Eleanor more than any other child; they were rejoicing that she wasn't in danger anymore, but was safe. That's where the joy came from.
And so it is in the parables. The coin didn't stay lost, but was found. It could be spent or it could be saved, but it wouldn't be wasted. The sheep wasn't in danger anymore; it would have someone to protect it, and feed and water it. What does Luke mean when he compares a sinner to someone who was lost and is found? Remember, Jesus was talking to his peers, the pharisees. They had been faithful and religious their whole lives, and I suppose expected a little more attention than they were getting from Jesus.
Jesus was squandering his time eating with sinners, going against custom and some religious laws. Jesus was defending his actions as faithful, not faithless. A faithful shepherd goes after a lost sheep; a diligent steward searches for her lost coin.
What does it mean to be spiritually lost? What does that look like? I didn't know. So I asked two people who recently joined the church. They graciously gave me permission to share their answers with you, and to use their names.
I asked Heather, who was baptized three summers ago, if she noticed a difference between being baptized and not being baptized. She answered very promptly: “Oh yes. The difference is knowing you have back-up. Before it was like I think there's a God, but it was very lonely. But now, even if I don't feel real great, I know that somebody cares. I came from a very intellectual family, so they can't believe in God. It's a nice idea, but it's like a fairy tale. I tell them I'll pray for you. My older sister has always been very sarcastic about God. Part of it is [some of our relatives are] Jehovah's witnesses. They sent [scary religious tracts] about dying to my grandmother, who was very sick. So [they say] “if this is what being a Christian is, I don't want it.” So I try to be a good example.
I asked her “Isn't it exhausting to try to be a good example?”
And she said, “It's not exhausting--it's accepting- [knowing that ]God is love, etc. Before I was baptized, I [meant] for my actions… to be directed out of love, but it was like trying to type without having lessons. I still have a lot of questions and uncertainties but I feel like it's not as necessary for me to have the answers right now. It's ok for me not to know some things.
It's helped us (being in a new town with no family) to know that we have this church family. We wouldn't have it if we hadn't joined the church.”
These particular stories from Luke aren't meant to reassure long-time Christians. There are other texts for that. These stories of the lost coin and lost sheep are to remind all of us not to be spiritual snobs. I think also they reassure new Christians of their worth. One of the first new Christians was Paul. Paul was a Roman citizen and Pharisee. Paul hunted and arrested Christians, until he heard Christ's voice on the road to Damascus (Acts 9). After hearing Jesus, Paul became a believer, and stopped harming the followers of the way. He knows about conversion and repentance. We read from his letter to Timothy. Listen for the word of God as it is found in 1 Timothy 1:12-17 .
12 I am grateful to Christ Jesus our Lord, who has strengthened me, because he judged me faithful and appointed me to his service, 13 even though I was formerly a blasphemer, a persecutor, and a man of violence. But I received mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief, 14 and the grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. 15 The saying is sure and worthy of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners-- of whom I am the foremost.16 But for that very reason I received mercy, so that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display the utmost patience, making me an example to those who would come to believe in him for eternal life. 17 To the King of the ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen. 18 I am giving you these instructions, Timothy, my child, in accordance with the prophecies made earlier about you, so that by following them you may fight the good fight, 19 having faith and a good conscience. By rejecting conscience, certain persons have suffered shipwreck in the faith; 20 among them are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have turned over to [the] Satan, so that they may learn not to blaspheme.
This ends our reading of God's word. It all seems pretty easy to follow, until we get to the part about Satan. In your New Revised Standard Versions, the phrase is “Whom I have turned over to Satan” but literally in Greek it is “Whom I have turned over to the Satan.” Remember Satan can also be translated as ‘accuser.' In this case, the satan is someone or some spirit who tests and proves a person's faith, like the accuser does in the book of Job. In this case, turning Hymenaeus and Alexander over to the Satan doesn't mean condemning them to hell; not even Paul could do that. It means letting Hymenaeus and Alexander experience the natural consequences of their faithless actions. Paul hopes they will learn how harmful their false beliefs are.
The other new Christian I talked to was Joel Waldo. He said, “On August 16, 2003 , I thought I had a groin pull. I commented to a friend during softball that my groin hurt; so I stretched it out and worried about it later. My right leg started to bother me but I didn't pay attention because I could walk-- no big deal. Two months later I was in the doctor's office regarding my right leg since I couldn't walk. His initial diagnosis was that I had arthritis of the hip. X-rays needed to confirm it. So I go to St. Elizabeth and get x-rays on my pelvis and that's when they asked me if I had the rest of the day off. So I knew something was wrong. So they did chest x-rays immediately, and an ultrasound. I had lung cancer, which had metastasized to the right femur, right pelvis, and right testicle. My doctor and I didn't know what to do, so they recommended MISTY. For the care I would need there were different doctors: a urologist, an orthopedic surgeon, and an oncologist. A co-worker of mine, who knew I was having an orchiectomy the next day, asked me if I believed in God. I said no, I'm a biologist. She didn't say anything. I had an orchiectomy October 25. I was home that afternoon. On Sunday the 26, I broke my right femur, due to the cancer having eaten away the bone. So, I was life-flighted to St. Alphonsus in Boise that same night. I had surgery on my femur the next day. I spent seven days in St. Alphonsus recovering from hip surgery, then transferred to St. Luke for cancer. I received my first chemotherapy and radiation treatments. After 14 days at St. Luke's, I was allowed to come home. Then I drove to and from Boise every 3 weeks for chemo. During this time, I found a stack of books delivered to my home; one was The Case for Faith by Lee Strobel, which I read, and was convinced that there is a God, due to Strobel's theological/scientific explanation of the big bang theory of the universe. Strobel says only a higher being could have [initiated the big bang]. The chemo played a big role in [my conversion]. It made me humble and it stripped my emotions bare.
When I read the chapter about the big bang theory, the revelation that I could believe in a God had me crying like a baby in bed. I called Cindy into the bedroom. Cindy said “your face was glowing. Such a bright radiance from you.” “[Once you are born-again] It's like you're willing to listen to everything. The cynicism and sarcasm is gone. [When I talked to my mother about my broken leg, she said,] ‘ You couldn't ask for help from God and Jesus when you were laying on the floor?' I said no-- by virtue of being an atheist, I didn't know I could ask for help. I didn't know any better. I know now that it was within my rights to ask, but I didn't know then. [When I was 12, my mother wanted to take me to church with my grandparents, even though my brother and sister got to stay home and play.] Upon telling my mother that I wasn't going, she told me the devil was going to get me. I thought if this is how religion is, I don't want to have anything to do with this. After that book, I knew that I could believe in Jesus Christ. I couldn't wait to order [ the Case for Christ ], because I was excited that I was able to believe in God. I ordered the book from Betty's books, and anxiously awaited it to show up. I read it in three days time, even though I'm going to Boise every day for chemo treatment. After reading The Case for Christ, I knew then that I could allow God and Jesus Christ into my heart and I could love them both.
During the dead of winter no one could come [see me] because I might get sick. Cindy listened to me. She was very happy that I found God and Jesus Christ. She was already a Christian. The genesis for people beyond Cindy and me knowing I was born-again was a was a going-away party for a co-worker at the forest service. In March I hadn't been working for 5 months. At this party, I let 2 hard-core born-again Christians know I had God and Jesus Christ in my heart. Unbeknownst to me a religious third forest worker heard our conversation and then he related his cancer [success] story to me. After that, we decided to attend First Presbyterian. In late April this forest worker invited me to give testimony at the church in Unity. What scared me was that I didn't know what testimony was. I assumed it meant he wanted me to tell my story. So Cindy and I went down, and I gave my testimony in front of about 20 people. When I was done, all the women were crying. [I was told that a lot of people] who don't go to church came, and some were thinking about going to church after my testimony. I said how chemo stripped me raw, and how profoundly my life had changed since I opened my heart to God and Jesus Christ. I had a certain peace and calm that I never could have achieved as an atheist. Becoming born-again emphasized that I was human, humans aren't perfect, and that I could make mistakes, and it was all right.”
At this point I told Joel that's what we call grace. Joel said, " I had no grace in my life; I couldn't achieve the perfection I demanded. I hated my life, and I hated my job. It didn't take much to set me off, or to get me mad, because I had no peace in my life. A friend of mine who is a pastor accused me of being a foxhole Christian and said that I would revert to my old ways as soon as [the cancer] passes. He's known me since I was 12, he's seen the ugly side. I had ridiculed Christianity and his way of life. The things I did when I was an atheist-- I just tried to make them feel bad, because I felt bad. My friend just [couldn't] give me the benefit of the doubt. I had ridiculed two of my co-workers who were born-agains, but they were happy for [me] and opened their heart to [me]. After being a Christian for 9 months, [I've found] the difference between being a Christian and an atheist is so profound, I couldn't go back again. I know all too well what's it's like to be an atheist. It's just too hard a lifestyle to go back to.” Cindy said she noticed a big difference in Joel. “He is a lot more calm and forgiving of others. He's always been [compassionate] with me, but now he is with others. [He cried when Olympic athletes lost.]” Joel said “I fully embraced Christ's tenets of love, tolerance and compassion when I read The Case for Christ .”
Cindy said “the final clincher is how much everyone was doing for him, coming over, and me putting my career on hold and staying by his side. He felt like his heart was opened.” Joel said “At the same time, I realized I could love others, and they weren't knuckleheads. ” Cindy said, "You realized they weren't there to make your life hard, they were trying as hard as you."
Joel said, “The third revelation for me was that I could be loved, by just co-workers, who became true friends, donating time, money, annual leave, so that I could continue to carry health insurance and make payments on my house. How can I forget that? I bawled like a baby after a friend left, when I was realized I was loved. A neighbor brought over a casserole. [I didn't want to accept it.] She said, ‘It was the same feeling I had [when my husband was recovering from a car wreck.] I felt like I owed people something. Get over it. It makes them feel good knowing that you feel good.'
Joel's definition of born-agains are Christians with a before and after story. He says “Maybe they weren't as bad as I was, but they had a rocky road somewhere, and decided to turn their lives over to Christ. I was really lost; I was as lost as you could get.” I remembered that phrase of Joel's, and so when I read this passage from Luke, I knew I wanted to tell his story in this sermon. But I was a little afraid to ask him, because his story is so personal, and he might have wanted to wait until he could tell it himself. But as I studied the text, I realized I didn't have anything of my own to say; just his story. So I asked him, and he graciously gave me permission to tell it, and told it to me again so I could write it all down.
After he finished, Cindy reminded him of a dream he'd had a few nights earlier Joel related his dream. "I walked into a place like Burger King and I sat at a seat waiting for Cindy to come with a meal. Some kids came and said, ‘you took our spot' so they took the place next to us which wasn't as good. I ask how it's going and they say ‘good.' I asked if they had God and Jesus Christ in their lives, and they said no. So I started preaching to them of the benefits of becoming a Christian, and having God and Jesus Christ in your life. The adults sitting there overheard, and started talking to me about God and Jesus Christ, and for some reason they were impressed by my telling the tale to these kids. It was weird. Adult men gravitated to my table. We all started talking about God and Jesus Christ.” I'm guessing that this dream made it easier for him to say “Yes, Susan, you can tell my story.” It certainly made me feel better about asking. I hope you can feel God's love through Joel's story, whether you are lost or found.
I found Joel and Heather's words moving. I expect you did too. I expect most of you are thinking, “I don't have anything nearly as profound as that to share.” But, both of them, Heather and Joel, were surprised I thought their words were worth sharing in a sermon. So, get over it. Remember you have backup. Amen.
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First Presbyterian Church