Your Picture of God Changes Everything
What is God like? How would you describe him? Cold and withdrawn? Austere and aloof? Remote and exacting? Distant and demanding? Harsh and punishing?
One writer says, “Few things are more important than our perception of God, for from that understanding we perceive our own identity, how we should think and act, and how the world ought to be.”[1] In other words, if you think of God as mostly like the God I just described, then you’re going to think of yourself as mostly a failure who has to try really hard to gain God’s attention and love. You’re going to be really hard on yourself and on others. You’re not going to have much patience for mistakes. Your view of people will be governed by their performance.
The way you understand God shapes the way you think about yourself and others. What if the way we commonly perceive God is not what he’s really like?
Rather than cold and withdrawn, what if he’s warm and engaged? What if he’s close and caring? Tender and gracious? Slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love? What if he’s gentle and lowly?
What if God is a seeking and caring God? A God who intentionally moves toward the lost and hurting? If so, then his grace should change the way we think about ourselves and how we treat others.
Two Parables of Lostness
This is what the two parables are about that we’ll look at today. In Luke 15:1-10, Jesus continues to reveal the heart of God to us.
The reason these parables are so important is because they reveal the heart of God. How Jesus went about his ministry was purposefully designed to show us what God is like. Jesus’ actions and attitudes reveal God’s actions and attitudes.
The point of these parables is that God loves the lost and wants us to love them too. We’ll look at the parable of the lost sheep (vv. 1-7), then the parable of the lost coin (vv. 8-10).
Jesus Was Approachable
First, let’s look at the parable of the lost sheep in verses 1-7. At the end of chapter 14, Jesus said, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear” (v. 35). Then verse 1 of chapter 15 says that “the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear him.” Luke repeats the word “hear” to connect these sections, showing us that the ones who truly hear Jesus aren’t the ones we’d expect.
I like how the CSB translates verses 1-2, “All the tax collectors and sinners were approaching to listen to him. And the Pharisees and scribes were complaining, ‘This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.’” The sinners were “approaching” while the Pharisees were “complaining.” What a contrast! Some were hungry for Jesus’ word; some were angered by Jesus’ work. If you want to know who’s who in the world today, just look for who’s wanting more of Jesus and who’s always upset about something. And, as is the case here, those hungry for Jesus’ word won’t always be those you expect.
The self-righteous religious people were upset that sinners were getting too close to Jesus. People who’re sick are finally seeing the doctor and some of the other patients are upset with the doctor! This is similar to what we saw in Luke 5:27-32. Jesus is doing what he came to do but it didn’t fit some people’s plan, so they complained.
“Sinners and tax collectors” were “approaching” Jesus because he was so approachable. He is “lowly in heart” (Mt. 11:29), ready to receive and welcome and enjoy anyone who comes to him.
Yes, Jesus is holy and glorious and righteous and supremely ruling over all things. But there’s also no one else more approachable than Jesus Christ. He’s not so high that you can’t reach him, so rich that you can’t know him, or so powerful that you can’t be comfortable around him.
The highest person in the universe says that he’s “lowly.” This means that there aren’t any hoops you have to jump through to be with him. There are no prerequisites. In fact, the only kind of person he works with is the kind who admits their need and comes to him for grace.
The Lost Sheep
This grace is demonstrated in the three parables that follow. First, the parable of the lost sheep in verses 3-7. The point of this parable is that God cares deeply about every lost sinner and that every single lost person is worth going after.
Jesus may have Old Testament texts like Ezekiel 34 in mind. It mentions sheep wandering on the mountains (v. 6), says that God will care for them (v. 11), judge their oppressors (vv. 17, 20, 22), and give them a Davidic shepherd to care for them (vv. 23-24). Ezekiel says that God will judge the shepherds who should’ve been caring for the sheep but weren’t.
Jesus’ parable is thus an implicit complaint against the religious leaders for not being the shepherds they were supposed to be, for not seeking the lost sheep of Israel. It’s also Jesus’ way of signaling that he’s taking up the task described in Ezekiel 34 which describes a deliverer sent from God who’ll shepherd God’s people.
The Point of the Parable
It’s tempting to approach parables allegorically, seeking to find hidden meanings and significance for all the characters or elements of the story. But because parables are analogies, to properly interpret parables we must figure out how the analogy works.
The way this analogy works is simple. Jesus is comparing the actions and attitude of the shepherd who goes after the lost sheep to God. His argument is a “how much more” argument. He’s saying, “If a shepherd will go after a lost sheep and rejoice when he finds it, how much more will God go after a lost person and rejoice when he finds them?”
The actions and attitude of the shepherd in the parable reflect the actions and attitude of God in reality. God’s character is such that he cares about every lost person. And Jesus’ actions (like eating with sinners and tax collectors) reveal God’s character.
Remember the context (vv. 1-2). The parables that follow are Jesus’ defense for why he deliberately associated with and ate with people known to be sinners.
And with the parable he showed the ones complaining about his actions that their attitude didn’t match the character of God. This is amazing! Jesus is telling the people who represented God that they weren’t representing God. He’s inviting to God’s table the ones who assumed they were already at God’s table. He’s telling the hyper-religious people that they need to come in and join the celebration of the kingdom of God and receive the forgiveness that he’s dispensing. With this parable, Jesus both affirms the unrighteous and rebukes the self-righteous.
The parable teaches us about the character of God as specifically revealed in the ministry of Jesus. The parable teaches us that God values even the least deserving and extends care to them. As one writer says, “God is not passive, waiting for people to approach him after they get their lives in order. He is the seeking God who takes the initiative to bring people back, regardless of how ‘lost’ they are.”[2]
This parable shows us that the God revealed by Jesus is a caring God, a seeking God, a God who values those without value so much that he actually goes after them. Is this the God you know?
Loving the Lost
As I said earlier, the way we understand God changes the way we understand everything. Understanding that God seeks us creates freedom and confidence and joy. And his grace toward us should cause us to be caring and sensitive toward others. Let me read a few lines from Klyne Snodgrass’s commentary on Jesus’ parables. They hit me right between the eyes, and I hope they do you as well. Speaking about how God’s grace for us should change the way we care for others, he says:
“We tend to know these truths abstractly, but they are not translated into practice either in how we view ourselves, in how we treat others, or in how we arrange church life. We are more likely to assume that God must be much more harsh, and we are more likely to look for the ninety-nine than the lost one. Do lost, disobedient to God, and ‘insignificant’ people have any sense from us that God really cares about and seeks them? Or that we do?”[3]
How do you see lost people? Do you want them to be saved, or are they more of an annoyance and aggravation to you? Do you pray and look for opportunities to point them to Christ? The point of this parable is that God loves the lost and we should too.
God Values Repentance
Let me say a quick word about repentance, as it features prominently in the parable (v. 7). “Righteous” doesn’t mean “sinless.” It refers to those who have a right standing with God. Repentance is both a one-time event that the Holy Spirit works in our hearts when we see the sinfulness of our sin and our deep need for Jesus. And it’s a life-long process of fighting sin. The “righteous persons who need no repentance” refers to the first aspect of repentance. They aren’t sinless, but they already have right-standing with God through faith. A good paraphrase of this verse could be, “One repentant sinner brings pleasure to God more than ninety-nine people in good standing with God.”[4]
Jesus isn’t teaching about the nature of repentance, but these two parables do highlight and stress the value of repentance. Without repentance, we aren’t saved. And I’m not saying we need to clean our lives up and then God will love us. The whole Bible says that God is the one who takes the initiative in salvation. And the whole Bible says that humans must act and respond to God. Is your life one of responding to the grace of God, or trying to make yourself look right?
The Lost Coin
The second parable that shows us God’s love for the lost is the parable of the lost coin in verses 8-10. This parable also shows us the character of God as revealed through the ministry of Jesus. It’s Jesus continuing to explain why he hangs out with sinners.
The parable is another “how much more” parable. If a woman will search diligently for a lost coin, how much more will God diligently search for his lost people?
The meaning of this parable is basically the same as the one before, but Jesus does add something here. Notice the words “seek diligently” (“search carefully,” CSB) in verse 8. The woman’s diligent search reflects God’s heart to go after his people until he finds them. If a woman will expend herself until she finds the coin, how much more will God expend himself until he finds his people? God will not give up until he saves his lost ones.
Think of your own story of coming to faith in Christ. How long did it take for you to come to Christ? Did you trust him the first time you heard the gospel? Did you wrestle with hard questions and even try ignoring and running away from God? Yet, he stayed after you. He didn’t give up until he’d conquered your heart.
The parable is a poignant picture of God’s search for us. And if this is God’s character, it should be ours as well. The parable doesn’t tell us how to search for the lost, but the implication is that we should. We may think of seeking the lost as evangelistically accosting people in perhaps rude and unwise ways. But what if it looks more like receiving sinners like Jesus did, over a meal, with conversation and dialogue, speaking the truth in love?
We may think that sinners don’t change fast enough, but how long did it take you to get to where you are? And we may worry that hanging out with sinners will give us a bad reputation or be a bad influence on us? As followers of Jesus, it’s necessary that we not engage in sin, but it’s also necessary that we seek the lost.
Jesus is our model. He never affirmed sin. He didn’t want people to stay in their sin. But he never communicated disdain for sinners.
Jesus shows us God’s heart for sinners. God loves sinners so much that he sent his Son Jesus to die for them, to take their sins and the punishment they deserve on the cross so they can be forgive and restored to fellowship with God.
God Celebrates
And when a sinner comes home to God, God celebrates (vv. 7, 10)! The joy of God in the salvation of sinners is a major theme in the parables of Luke 15. God’s recovery of his lost ones is occasion for great joy. Think of how you feel when you find something you’ve lost. Now multiply that times a million.
The unseen kingdom of God erupts in celebration when the lost are saved. Joy is an essential feature of God’s kingdom and must not be neglected. “Where joy is absent, the kingdom is absent.”[5]
God loves the lost and wants us to love them too. His kingdom has come in Jesus, and it’s come with limitless grace, even grace for those we don’t think deserve it. And it’s come with limitless demand. God diligently searches for his people, a diligence he expects to be replicated in his people.
How do you see the lost? Do you move toward them or away from them? When you remember that God loved you enough to move toward you, you’ll want to move toward the lost with grace.
[1]Klyne R. Snodgrass, Stories with Intent: A Comprehensive Guide to the Parables of Jesus, 2nd ed. (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2018), 109.
[2]Ibid.
[3]Ibid., 110.
[4]Ibid., 108.
[5]Ibid., 117.