Scripture: Luke 15:1-10
Video Link: https://youtu.be/jqYP-goOQk8
Audio Link: Stream Sermon – 15 Feb 2026 – Lost & Found by tawabaptist | Listen online for free on SoundCloud
Structure:
- Introduction
- The lost leaders
- The lost sheep
- The lost coin
- Conclusion
Introduction:
Good morning everyone.
Over the years the metal flashing above our ranch slider has deteriorated.
The purpose of the flashing is to keep the rain out, which makes the flashing fairly important. Rust was showing through the paint. Not only did it look rude, but if I let it go too long, the rust might make holes in the metal.
So, I decided to restore it. This involved grinding away the rust with a wire brush, then applying a special rust converter to the metal, followed by a rust kill primer and two topcoats of rust kill paint.
Although I’m not ready to quit my day job, just yet, I did enjoy the work. There is a certain pleasure in restoring things. Hopefully my restoration efforts last.
Today we continue our series on the parables of Jesus. Last week we heard about the ten minas and this week our focus is Jesus’ twin parables of the lost sheep and lost coin in Luke 15. These parables are primarily about heaven’s joy in seeing the restoration of people. From verse 1 of Luke 15 we read…
Now the tax collectors and sinners were all gathering around to hear Jesus. 2 But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.” 3 Then Jesus told them this parable: 4 “Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Doesn’t he leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? 5 And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders 6 and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbours together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.’ 7 I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent. 8 “Or suppose a woman has ten silver coinsand loses one. Doesn’t she light a lamp, sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it? 9 And when she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbours together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost coin.’ 10 In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”
May the Spirit of Jesus illuminate God’s word for us.
The lost leaders:
Having purpose in life is like carrying a compass. Purpose helps us to remember the direction we are headed so we don’t lose our way. Jesus’ parables, in Luke 15, are like a compass, they remind us of our true north. They point to our true purpose and direction.
The 13th Century Sufi poet, Rumi, once wrote: “Be a lamp, or a lifeboat, or a ladder. Help someone’s soul heal. Walk out of your house like a shepherd.”
This quote speaks to a person’s purpose in life. It helps us to remember the direction we are headed so we don’t lose our way. Rumi was not a Christian, he was a Muslim, and yet his words in this instance are in line with the true north of Jesus’ teachings.
To be a lamp is to help someone find their way in the darkness.
To be a lifeboat is to save someone from drowning.
To be a ladder is to lift someone out of a hole.
And to walk out of your house like a shepherd is go into the world with the purpose of caring for others.
Luke introduces the parables of the lost sheep and the lost coin by pointing to Israel’s lost leadership. From verse 1 we read…
Now the tax collectors and sinners were all gathering around to hear Jesus. 2 But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.”
Tax collectors were part of the machinery which oppressed the Jewish people. They were often suspected of theft, taking more than they should to line their own pockets. Not surprisingly, tax collectors were hated and ostracised.
The term ‘sinners’ included two groups of people. Those who broke the moral law and those who broke the ceremonial law. The ten commandments are an example of the moral law. Rules about what you can and cannot eat or touch are an example of the ceremonial law.
Those who broke the ceremonial law were not necessarily immoral or unethical. They might be honest hard-working individuals who kept the ten commandments. It was simply their misfortune to work in a trade that made them ceremonially unclean, therefore prohibiting them from gathered worship.
The Pharisees and teachers of the law were among Israel’s leadership.
They were a religious sect, known for their strict observance of the Jewish law. Not just the written law of Moses, but also the oral tradition that had evolved around the law of Moses. The Pharisees had added a lot of their own rules to God’s law and anyone who did not keep their rules they labelled a sinner.
The Pharisees believed God’s purpose was to destroy those they considered to be sinners. They thought nothing gave God greater joy than annihilating people who sinned. And so, they separated themselves from large sections of society. Sadly, the Pharisees had lost their way.
Jesus was very different from the Pharisees. There was something attractive about Jesus and his teaching. Tax collectors and sinners were drawn to Jesus and Jesus welcomed them. More than simply welcoming them, Jesus ate with them. And to eat with someone in that culture was to basically make friends with them, to accept them.
In the minds of the Pharisees, Jesus tarred himself with the same brush when he ate with these people who broke their rules. That’s why they muttered against Jesus.
Jesus spoke these parables (in Luke 15) to show the Pharisees were wrong about God’s purpose. God does not derive joy from destroying people. Quite the opposite in fact. God does not want anyone to perish. God’s purpose is to restore creation, especially his human creatures. Heaven rejoices when the lost are found and people are restored to right relationship with God.
If the Pharisees really wanted to please God, they would not separate themselves from the world. They would join God in his redemptive purpose in the world. They would be a lamp or a lifeboat or a ladder to help others heal. They would walk out of the house (of their manmade rules) like a shepherd.
The lost sheep:
Jesus addresses the lost Pharisees by saying in verse 4, “Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them…”
Now, when we read this, we think nothing of it. But to the ears of a Pharisee this would grate. It might even sound offensive.
Abraham was a shepherd. Moses was a shepherd. David was a shepherd.
The Old Testament prophets sometimes referred to Israel’s leaders as shepherds. But despite this, the Pharisees despised shepherds. A shepherd’s work often prevented them from participating in ceremonial worship and, when a sheep went missing, the shepherd was suspected of theft.
Jesus asks the Pharisees to imagine being a shepherd who loses one of their sheep. A shepherd who loses sheep is failing in their job. Jesus seems be implying here that the Pharisees (who are among Israel’s leadership) are like shepherds who lose sheep. In which case the Pharisees have forgotten God’s restorative purpose and are failing in their responsibility to the people.
Jesus continues his parable saying: Doesn’t he leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it?
Now when I first read this, I thought, that doesn’t make sense, leaving the 99 to fend for themselves in the wilderness, while you go searching for the one lost sheep. The shepherd would probably return to find more sheep missing.
Reading the experts on this passage though, I learned that with a flock of 100 sheep in the middle east there would likely be at least two or three shepherds, so the 99 would not be left on their own. They would still be protected.
Even so you might wonder why the shepherd would go to the trouble of searching for one sheep. I mean, is it worth it? The wilderness is not a safe place. Not only was the shepherd risking his own life, but he could spend many hours searching only to find the sheep dead, killed by a wild animal or something.
Well, shepherds in the first century needed to find the lost sheep, whether dead or alive, in order to exonerate themselves. If you could bring the sheep back alive, all well and good. But even if you brought the sheep back dead, at least then you could prove you had not stolen it and so preserve your honour.
Before I took to the metal flashing on our house with a grinder, I didn’t know what I might find. Was it just surface rust or was the flashing rusted right through? If it was rusted through, then I had a bigger problem. Still, I needed to find out, so I proceeded in hope and my hope was rewarded with joy.
The shepherd in Jesus’ parable has an attitude of hope. He is prepared for the worst but hopes for the best. Nothing ventured, nothing gained. Jesus’ attitude toward people is one of hope. He doesn’t write a person off as irredeemable. Jesus holds out hope for people.
Everyone, I believe, has at least a little bit of Pharisee in them. Jesus is inviting the Pharisee in each of us to live in hope. Hope for ourselves and hope for others. Do you know someone who is lost? A friend or family member or perhaps someone you don’t like that much. Hold out hope for them.
Pray for them. Who knows what God might do.
The shepherd’s hope is rewarded when he finds the lost sheep alive. Of course, finding the sheep is one thing, restoring it is another. After finding the sheep, the shepherd then puts it on his shoulders and carries it home.
Carrying a sheep is heavy, dirty work but the shepherd does this joyfully.
He is happy to find the sheep alive, yes, but he also enjoys the work of restoring the sheep, as messy and difficult as that work is.
Restoring the metal flashing on our house was dirty work. I got proper grubby. But there was a certain satisfaction in the process as well. Restoring people is not as straight forward as removing rust or carrying sheep. People are more complicated. We have set backs but, by God’s grace, we also make headway sometimes. We need to be kind to ourselves and celebrate the little wins along the way.
The shepherd’s joy does not end there. When he gets home, the shepherd calls his friends and neighbours together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.’
Jesus is saying to the Pharisees here, you should be happy that I am welcoming sinners and eating with them. I know it appears dirty to you, but this is what the work of restoration looks like. You shouldn’t be muttering behind my back. You should be celebrating with me.
I’m fulfilling God’s purpose. I’m being a lamp to those in darkness. I’m being a lifeboat to those who are drowning. I’m being a ladder for others to climb out of a hole and heal. I’m walking into the world with the mindset of a shepherd.
In verse 7 Jesus explains the main point of the parable, saying: I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.
Jesus is letting the Pharisees know that their values and priorities are very different from heaven’s values and priorities. The Pharisees have lost the compass of God’s purpose and in so doing have become lost themselves.
Given that heaven rejoices when a sinner repents, so too should we. Perhaps for those in heaven, seeing a person repent is like watching someone on your favourite team score a goal or a try or hit a six. The crowd goes wild.
What then does it mean to repent? The word repent literally means to turn around and go in the other direction. Do a U turn basically. Repentance is a change of mind that leads to a change in how one lives.
For a gossip, repentance means learning to be discreet. For someone having an affair, repentance means stopping the affair and remaining faithful to your spouse. For someone prone to arrogance, repentance means being honest with yourself. For the Pharisee in each of us, repentance means trusting Jesus and not relying on our own rules or righteousness.
Repentance happens in a moment but it’s also the work of a lifetime. What is the focus of your repentance right now? What needs to change in your life?
The interesting thing about the lost sheep is that it does absolutely nothing to be found. The sheep does not know which way to turn. It is powerless to save itself. The sheep’s restoration relies on the shepherd.
Does that mean we don’t need to do anything to be saved? Well, no, our salvation is not automatic. We still need to repent. The point is we cannot repent without God’s grace. God’s grace comes first, before we repent. It’s like Paul says in Romans 8…
6 You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. 7 Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. 8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Luke 15 is heavily pregnant with God’s love for us personally. God’s grace in reaching out to save us, before we even knew we were lost and needed saving, speaks to his deep love for humanity. God loves people.
I know it’s difficult to comprehend, but God does not restore us because we repent. No. God restores us because he loves us and delights in restoring people. However, we still need to repent. Faith in Christ and repentance from sin is the right and proper response to God’s prevenient grace and love.
In verse 7 of Luke 15, Jesus says a curious thing. He talks about the 99 being righteous persons who do not need to repent. Hmm? Jesus is probably being ironic here. The wider testimony of Scripture teaches that no one is righteous. All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.
Most people do think they are righteous though, or at least not as bad as others. The truth is most of the time we don’t realise when we are lost. The Pharisees thought they had a monopoly on being right. Little did they know they were more lost than the sinners they despised. We call that dramatic irony.
At the end of the parable the one lost sheep is returned home, while the other 99 are still in the wilderness oblivious to their true condition.
The lost coin:
We’ve heard about the lost leaders of Israel and the lost sheep. Now let’s consider the lost coin. The parable of the lost coin reinforces the message of the parable of the lost sheep. Heaven rejoices when the lost are found and sinners repent.
If the Pharisees did not like shepherds, they despised women even more.
So Jesus makes a woman the hero of his second parable. Jesus means to challenge the prejudices and misconceptions of the religious leaders. He wants to get under their skin. How else will they realise they are lost?
Anyway, this woman has 10 silver coins and loses one. It could be she was poor and could not afford to lose any money. Or it might be the coin was part of a necklace and losing it would ruin the whole piece of jewelry, like losing a diamond out of an engagement ring.
Whatever the case, the coin is precious to the woman and she searches the house carefully until she finds it. We note the woman is hopeful in her search. It’s not a long shot. The chances of finding a lost coin in a small house are far greater than the chances of finding a lost sheep in the open country.
We also note that finding the lost coin is dirty work. It requires time and effort, not to mention patience and lighting a lamp.
As with the lost sheep, the lost coin does nothing to save itself. The coin cannot move by itself. It is completely powerless and reliant on the woman for its restoration. The woman searches for the coin because she values the coin and cannot bear to lose it.
We are like the coin, powerless to save ourselves. God searches for us because he loves us and doesn’t want heaven without us.
The search is successful and (like the shepherd) the woman celebrates with her community.
Once again Jesus is saying to the Pharisees, you should be happy that I am welcoming sinners and eating with them. I know it appears dirty to you, but this is what the work of restoration looks like. You should not be muttering behind my back. You should be celebrating with me.
I’m fulfilling God’s purpose. I’m being a lamp to those in darkness. I’m being a lifeboat to those who are drowning. I’m being a ladder for others to climb out of a hole. I am cleaning house. I am helping people to heal.
Jesus concludes this second parable in a similar way to the first, saying:
I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.
God’s grace comes first but we still need to repent. Repentance, turning away from sin, is the right response to God’s love and grace. The angels of God rejoice over our repentance because they know the obedience of faith pleases the Lord.
Conclusion:
Jesus practiced what he preached. Later in Luke’s gospel, in chapter 19, we read how Jesus searched for Zacchaeus, the tax collector, and invited himself over for dinner.
Zacchaeus was thrilled by the Lord’s prevenient grace for him and responded with repentance saying: ‘Look, I give half my possessions to the poor and if I have cheated anybody, I will pay back four times the amount.’
Jesus declared: ‘Today salvation has come to this house, because this man too is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and save what was lost.’
And heaven rejoiced.
Let us pray…
Loving God, we thank you for sending Jesus to die for us while we were still sinners and powerless to save ourselves. Grant us a growing awareness of your love and grace. Move us to respond with faith and repentance. May our lives bring you joy. Through Jesus we pray. Amen.
Questions for discussion or reflection:
- What stands out for you in reading this Scripture and/or in listening to the sermon? Why do you think this stood out to you?
- Have you ever restored something? What did you restore and how did you go about it? How did you feel throughout the process of restoration?
- Discuss / reflect on the twin parables of the lost sheep and the lost coin. Why did Jesus tell these parables? Compare and contrast the two parables? In what ways are they similar? In what ways are they different?
- Why does the shepherd search for the sheep? Why does the woman search for the coin? Why does God go out of his way to restore us?
- Do you know someone who is lost? Who? Pray for them. What does it mean to live in hope for ourselves and others?
- What does it mean to repent? Why do we need to repent? What is the focus of your repentance right now? What needs to change in your life?
- What examples can you think of (in the gospels or in your own life) where God’s grace comes before repentance?
- Who do you identify with most in these parables? Why
Bibliography:
- William Barclay, ‘The Gospel of Luke’, 1965.
- Leon Morris, ‘Tyndale Commentaries: Luke’, 1976.
- Kenneth Bailey, ‘Poet & Peasant’, 1976.
- Fred Craddock, ‘Interpretation Commentaries: Luke’, 1990.
- Darrell Bock, ‘NIV Application Commentary: Luke’, 1996.
- Joel Green, ‘New International Commentary on the New Testament: The Gospel of Luke’, 1997.
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