“FINDERS KEEPERS”

Luke 15:1-10

Have you ever lost anything important?  Your wallet?  Keys?  A phone number?  How about your social security card?

Most of us, at some time or another I’ll bet, have lost our car in a big parking lot.  I have, on more than one occasion, been reduced to walking up one row and down the next one -- trying to stay focused -- knowing how easy it is to look at something and not see it -- trying to avoid looking stupid by walking right past my car. 

On a couple of occasions, I found myself looking for my car, not realizing until much later that I was driving DeLynn’s car. 

But there are more terrible things than losing your car.  How about losing your child?  Talk about a heart-stopper!  A long time ago, when my daughter was about six years old, she and I went to Marine World. 

Everything was going fine and we were having a wonderful time …  until I turned around and she was gone.  At first, I thought she was just around the corner, but no. 

I started to panic.  All the stories of kid snatching rolled around in my head.  I remember running around all over the place, calling her name, looking left, then right. 

I got up on top of a garbage can at one point to get a better vantage point.  I’m sure I looked a little like a mad man. 

Finally a security guard asked if I needed help (he too may have been worried about my sanity) and I told him my dilemma. 

He directed me to the “Lost and Found” and there she was, playing happily with some toys she had found.  I am not sure she even realized that she was lost. 

Now let me ask you a question.  Can you imagine how bad you would have felt if that was your daughter and you realized she was missing?  Can you imagine how ecstatic you would feel when you finally found her?  Talk about an emotional rollercoaster!

Today’s passage of Scripture is about searching and finding. It not only illustrates the frantic nature of those doing the searching; but also shows how much rejoicing there is for the one who is found. 

And when you find that which was lost, let me tell you, there is much rejoicing. 

Interestingly, just like my daughter, the lost don’t always know they are lost.  I’m not sure the Lost Sheep, in our text, really knew it was lost until the Shepherd started calling for it.

It may have thought that the rest of the flock was right behind it. At least, they were the last time the sheep looked.

And while the Sheep wandered away on its own, the coin had no such intention – come on, it’s an inanimate object, right? Someone had to have jiggled the stack or bumped it. Maybe it slipped through a hole in the money purse. Who knows?

The woman in the parable went looking for it and couldn’t find it. And then the frantic searching began.

Why such a search for just a coin, you may wonder … Well, it wasn’t like a dime, a quarter, or even a silver dollar. This coin represented at least a day’s wages.

So, maybe it represented her grocery money for the week. It could be money she was saving for the Temple offering. Or it might have been her entire life savings. Who knows, but it was important and she went searching.

We need to realize that, first, both the sheep and the coin were lost – whether they realized it or not. And then secondly, that there is Good News at the end of each story – and no matter how lost they (or we) are, we have a God who will never forget about us.

God will never write us (or them) off as sinners unworthy of redemption. God’s love is too big for that.

We may be unworthy, but that’s beside the point, because God offers us redemption anyway. Through the love of God, we are offered both Forgiveness and Redemption. That’s called Grace.

Not only does God offer Redemption but the Good News is that we have a Savior who searches for the lost. He is the Shepherd who leaves the 99 and searches for the one lost sheep. He is the woman with 10 silver coins who lost one.

He sweeps and cleans high and low until we’re found. And then all heaven rejoices because we’ve been brought home. Because the Lost has been restored.

Any of you remember the movie “Cheaper By The Dozen”? One of the youngest boys, Mark, is at that awkward age where he doesn’t feel like he fits in, even in his big family.

He’s the only one who wears glasses. They tease him and call him Fed Ex. They tell him that the Fed Ex man brought him.

The dad is a coach whose dream has always been to coach his alma mater. He gets that opportunity about the same time that the mom gets a book (about the family) published and has to go on a book signing tour, leaving Dad to care for 12 kids in a new community in which they didn’t want to move.

Well, in the movie, Mark seems to be the most miserable. And to top it off, his pet frog, “Beans,” dies and he decides to run away because “big families stink.” The entire family gets into the search.

Dad is the one who finally finds him. Mark’s headed back to their old home because it’s his one favorite place. Dad find’s him and he’s not lost anymore. Dad embraces him.

And after they pull up to the house, guess who’s waiting for him? The entire family. There is reconciliation and laughter and tears. Rejoicing.

That’s the way God and the angels in heaven react when any one of us fall away or get lost … and then are found. There is rejoicing. God throws a party in our honor. And we should rejoice with God.

I’m sure ya’ll know the little childhood ditty that goes, “Finder’s Keepers, Loser’s Weepers.” We all used to use it when our brother or sister dropped a nickel or a dime and we found it. It was our way of laying claim to that which had been lost.

In our text the Pharisees were mad at Jesus for associating with people of doubtful reputations. You know, I think the real problem with the Pharisees is that they wanted to be the Keepers, instead of the Finders.

And when we sit like the Pharisees were doing, and look down our nose at people who are different or people who aren’t living the faith, that’s what we’re doing, trying to be the Keepers instead of the Finders.

When we sit in judgment of others, in essence, we’ve moved God out of His rightful throne and taken over. That’s not our job.

We’re called to be Seekers. We’re not called to judge. Instead, we’re called to Seek and Rejoice because someone else has found the love and grace and forgiveness that we’ve experienced.

That’s why God throws the party. And when someone comes home for the very fist time, it becomes a New Birth day party.

Tony Campolo, who I’ve talked about before, in his book The Kingdom of God Is a Party, tells one of my favorite stories.

On one of his trips from the East Coast to Hawaii, he tells of the time when he found himself awake long before dawn because of the time difference.

Rather than trying to force himself to go back to sleep, he got dressed and wandered up and down the streets of Honolulu looking for a place to eat breakfast.

He found a little place on a side street, walked in, and sat down on one of the stools at the counter. Everything he touched, including the menu, felt sticky with grease.

When the guy behind the counter came over and asked, “What do you want?” Tony Campolo ordered a cup of coffee and a doughnut.

As he sat there munching on his doughnut and sipping his coffee at 3:30 in the morning, the door of the diner swung open. Much to his dismay and discomfort, in marched eight or nine provocative and loud prostitutes.

It was a small diner so they sat on both sides of him. Their talk was loud and crude. Of course, Tony felt completely out of place and was just about to make a quick getaway when he overheard one of the women say, “Tomorrow’s my birthday. I’m going to be thirty-nine.”

One of her friends snapped back, “So what! What do you want me to do? Throw you a birthday party?”

The woman replied, “Come on, why do you have to be so mean? I was just telling you it was my birthday. I don’t want anything from you. Why should you give me a birthday party? I’ve never had a birthday party in my whole life.”

As soon as he heard that, Tony made his decision. He waited until the women had left then he called over the guy behind the counter and asked, “Do they come in here every night?”

“Yeah,” he answered.

Tony went on to say, “I overheard the one named Agnes say that tomorrow is her birthday. What do you think about us throwing her a birthday party for her, right here, tomorrow night?”

A smiled cross over the man’s chubby cheeks. He called out to his wife and told her about the plan.

At 2:30 the next morning, Tony Campolo was back at the diner. They decorated the diner from one end to the other with crepe paper and made a big sign out of cardboard that read “Happy Birthday, Agnes!” Evidently word had gotten out, and by 3:15 A.M. the place was packed.

Promptly at 3:30 A.M., the door of the diner swung open and in walked Agnes and her friend. Everybody was ready and screamed, “Happy Birthday!”

Agnes was stunned and shaken. Her mouth fell open. Her legs seemed to buckle a bit. One of her friends grabbed her arm to steady her and led her to one of the stools at the counter as the crowd sang “Happy Birthday” to her.

Her eyes moistened, then, when the birthday cake with thirty-nine lit candles was carried out, Agnes totally lost it and sobbed like a little child.

When the party finally came to a close and Agnes walked out the door, there was a stunned silence in the diner. Not knowing what else to do, Tony Campolo broke the silence by saying,

“What do you say we pray for Agnes?” He prayed that night for Agnes. He prayed that her life would be changed and that God would be good to her.

When he finished, the guy leaned over the counter and said, “Hey! You never told me you were a preacher. What kind of church do you belong to?”

In one of those rare moments when just the right words came, Tony Campolo answered, “I belong to a church that throws birthday parties for prostitutes at 3:30 in the morning.”

The guy waited a moment and then he almost sneered as he replied, “No you don’t. There’s no church like that. If there was, I’d join it. I’d join a church like that!”

Well, that’s what every church should be like. Because that’s what God’s love is like. And that’s what we’re called to be like. We’re called to look beyond the outer person and see a child of God, loved by God just like we’re love by God.

And we are called to offer them spontaneous, authentic, unconditional, grace filled love. Love without any strings attached.

There are millions of Finders but there can only be one Keeper. And that’s not us. Its God. As Finders we’re called to find the Lost and then be part of the party in heaven and Celebrate when they are found.

Who’s ready to party???