Now all the tax collectors and sinners were coming near to listen to him. 2And the Pharisees and the scribes were grumbling and saying, ?This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them.? 3So he told them this parable: 4?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? 5When he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders and rejoices. 6And 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.? 7Just 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. 8?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? 9When 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.? 10Just so, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.?

I invite you to pay with me.

If you have children, you might remember the first time you lost your child in a store. Your heart started to race, you started to look in every direction, you started calling out your child?s name, there is a panic sound in your voice?and no matter what, you couldn?t seem to find your child. After what felt like 3 hours, when it was actually just 1 minute, you see that face with a huge smile, saying, ?I?m right here mommy, I made you look for me!? You give that little child a death grip hug, saying don?t you ever do that to me again, you scared me! Then that cute face starts to calm you down, yet you still felt like a crazy person because you couldn?t find your child. But that sense of relief starts to take over, you start to share how it?s not okay to hide from mommy (or daddy) in a store and we always need to be able to see you?blah, blah, blah.

You know, I think God feels the same way about everyone who isn?t in a relationship with God, those people who are lost. I think God is anxiously searching for everyone, just like a parent who loses a child in a store.? God continues to find ways to reach and welcome people back with love. God is just waiting to hug us, to welcome us back into God?s arms. Wanting to see the smiles on the faces of those who have been far away and have not kept God at the center of their lives. And I think God has a role for us to do in welcoming and inviting people back into a relationship with God. And it involves our lives.

What Disciples Do. Last week we talked through the importance of disciples putting God first and at the center of their lives. Then after their faith and belief in God, everything else followed. Putting God at the center of our lives allows for us to know God intimately and for others to see what it looks like to take faith seriously. When we take our faith seriously, it naturally leads to how we live out our lives. Because the way we live out our faith tells everyone we meet what disciples do and don?t do?

Today we are exploring what it means for disciples to seek people for Christ and the Church. One way this can be explained is by seeking the lost. Our two stories from the gospel of Luke focus on what a huge priority it was for Jesus to reach lost people. Today we heard stories of the lost sheep and the lost coin; and a few months ago we spent time of the story of the lost son. Later on in Luke, Jesus says, ?For the Son of Man came to seek out and to save the lost (Luke 19:10).? Jesus said his primary mission in life was to reach lost people.

So how do we define ?lost people?? ?Jesus would have defined the ?lost people? as those who felt they were on the outside of the care and reach of God; those who God was searching out and trying to find. The lost would have been those who were on the outside of the community, considered to live on the fringe of society; those not welcomed and included by the religious leaders, those judged, separated, those seeking forgiveness, or in need of repentance, and those needing hope for their lives. Those Jesus would have defined so many years ago, are still the ones who we define as lost today. And some of those folks are here this day.

In our text for today, Jesus tells the story about the shepherd with one hundred sheep. One got lost, so he left the other 99 to find the lost one and rejoiced when he found it. The story is followed by a similar parable about a lost coin. The next parable is about the son who was considered lost and then found. These stories share the central theme of seeking the lost in the gospel of Luke. Yet many times, as a congregation we focus on the 99 sheep and the 9 coins. Meaning we focus our attention on who is here, not on those who are not here. In this passage and others, Jesus is challenging us to seek the lost sheep and the lost coin. Here is an interesting piece: neither a sheep nor a coin can repent. The issue of the two parables, therefore, is not to call sinners to repentance, but to invite the righteous into the celebration with those who are found back in relationship with God. Leander Keck says the following, ?Whether one will join the celebration is all-important, because it reveals whether one?s relationship are based on merit or on mercy. Those who find God?s mercy offensive cannot celebrate with the angels when a sinner repents. Thus they exclude themselves from God?s grace.? We are called to seek people for Christ and for the church. When we seek people, when we seek the lost, then everyone are invited into the joyous celebration with God.

So how do we join God in this celebration? Well, there are some ways, and they all begin with you and who you are as a disciple of Jesus Christ and how you share your faith. This is called evangelism. Here are a few ways.

First, Christians and churches can engage in lifestyle evangelism. One of the best ways we can witness to our faith is to live it. In doing so, we testify that we are people of faith. People see our lives and think, ?If this is what Christianity looks like, then I am interested.? You have probably heard this said before, but Francis of Assisi once said, ?Preach the gospel at all times; use words if necessary.?

Second, Christians and churches can engage in relationship evangelism. This is an annoying sales pitch or pressuring people or being annoying. But it is looking at our network of relationships, our spheres of influence, and finding opportunities to share our faith naturally with the people we know. Well, you might say, I don?t know anyone who doesn?t belong to another church. Friends, we have some work to do then. It might be time to get to know more people who aren?t fully connected to the faith and relationship with God anymore, with those who have left the church in general?I know for me, this is always something I need to work on. So think about how you can share your faith with those who you need to begin to come into relationship with and those you already are in relationship with. This kind of relational evangelism can be done naturally in our conversations with others and can make a huge impact on people.

Third, Christians and churches can engage in invitational evangelism. In short, this is a ?come and see? method of evangelism. This is when you can invite people to worship or a special event or a small group. Studies show that 90% of people visit a church because somebody they know invited them to come.

Here is my challenge for us this week. I want you to consciously decide to use one or more of the methods of evangelism this week. Think about how you can seek people for Christ and the church. Friends, it is how we grow in our relationship with Christ and with one another. It is also how we grow in numbers in our congregation. If you aren?t inviting people, then it is really hard to grow a congregation. This is what disciples do. Disciples share their faith through word and action. I pray that this week you can be a disciple who seeks people for Christ and for the church. Because someone once asked, ?Is Jesus Christ your personal savior?? He replied, ?No, I prefer to share him.? This is too good to keep to ourselves. Amen.