It was a gorgeous Saturday afternoon July day in Montreal, my hometown. The weather was hot and steamy and Jim and I were out visiting – going door to door witnessing. Jimmy was a few years older than I was — and a Christian zealot, fueled by adolescent testosterone – a highly combustible mix!
Jimmy knocked ... and then pounded on the door of the modest bungalow in the Rosemount district of Montreal, thinking perhaps we were Latter-Day Saints, given that both Jimmy and I had ‘white-walls’. We weren’t!
When the giant of a man finally answered the door, we told him we were from the Pentecostal church and had a gift for him. Surprisingly, he invited us in ... all the while thumbing out a cigarette while sweat popped out of his armpits, staining his T-shirt. I am pretty sure it was the part about ‘a gift’ that got us through the front door.
We followed this stranger, but ‘new friend’ to his Easy Boy chair as he lit the tobacco, took a deep drag and exhaled a long stream of bluish smoke that traveled straight ahead, dissolving into the air without even a slightest movement. The house smelled of cigarettes.
The plan was for me to start with some small talk, which I ineptly did — mumbling
stupid stuff that strangers are in the habit of talking about when (a) there is nothing to talk about or (b) just before the heavy artillery goes off and you get down to talking about the very thing that brought you in the 1st place. So, I started in – with inane things like, “We’ve had quite the weather lately, haven’t we?” . . . or “I hear it’s going to rain tomorrow!”
Jimmy could see I was a rookie at stuff like this (I was) ... so he interrupted my bleak attempt at conversation ... and popped the $64,000 question: Did this mid-aged, oval-shaped, Humpty-Dumpty like man, with his toothy smile, nicotine-stained fingers and in bad need of an antiperspirant bath — know Jesus as his personal Savior? And just like that, in a nano-second, we had reached critical mass on the Witnessing Richter Scale.
For the believer, respect for the person must never
be confused with hatred for their unbelief
and rejection of the one, true God.
The stranger answered matter-of-factly “No!” but thankfully I could answer “Yes”. I confess to my shame that I shifted positions several times in my chair, but it was not because I had cramps. It was my anticipation of a coming blood-bath, where this total stranger would reach over ... snatch us both from our chairs ... drag us to his basement dungeon ... tie us to the floor joists ... and inflict all manner of pain on us over the next 40 days / 40 nights ... before dismembering us and dropping our body parts into a large barrel of sulfuric acid ... and leaving my younger brother, Terry, to inherit the millions of dollars my parents had stuffed away under their mattress. My concentration on our looming death by torture was happily broken by Jimmy, who fearlessly launched into the plan of salvation.
“Sir,” Jimmy said with great authority, “You are Lost! Would you be willing to pray the sinner’s prayer. “No,” the man answered, as his cigarette hung magically suspended from his bottom lip. “Well, then” said Jimmy “I guess you will have to go to hell?” ... and with that, out the door Jimmy triumphantly walked, with me close on his heels I might add – while the lingering Montreal heat reminded us both of the wrath that was yet to visit that Rosemount bungalow, the city ... and the rest of the world when Jesus returns! It was Lot leaving Sodom all over again.
“What about the gift?” I heard Godzilla ask. But we were already at the next house knocking,
OK, so the man was Lost, and unless by some miracle God stuck some sense into his miserable old, sin-cursed, degenerate, god-forsaken, vile, odious, corrupt, foul soul — then he was in deep doo-doo spiritually! We were right of course! However, since then as I have thought about our experience that day, I think Jimmy and I were a little Lost too ... and in need of being Found.
I mean, we had the enthusiasm to go knocking on doors and share the gospel message. What we did not have though, was the care and compassion to bear with this stranger ... wait on this stranger ... invest in this stranger ... love this stranger. And surely that is a kind of lost-ness, isn’t it —the lost-ness of Christian self-righteousness? We were saved of course, Jimmy and I, but there was something in the Good News of God’s grace and mercy that had not overtaken us.
In practice, Churches and Christians can become so
unlike the Servant of the Lord (Isaiah 42:1-4).
We need to do better!
I have noticed that people get Lost all through the Bible ... in all kinds of places ... and for all sorts of reasons, too. Some folks get Lost when they run away from God (Jonah) … run away from home (Prodigal Son) … or even run away from themselves (Jacob). Adam and Eve's act of disobedience, what theologians call ‘Original Sin’, caused all kind of ‘Lost-ness’ to spread through the human population — leading God to looking for those who have gone AWOL.
Over the years, I have come to conclude that giving our life to Christ does not necessarily take away all of the Lost-ness inside of us. Indeed, I think recovering from our Lost-ness takes a life-time ... and along the way that Lost-ness can create all sorts of detours and obstacles that we have to overcome.
In the Older Testament, Israel, the people of God, remained Lost in Egypt for 430 years (Exodus 12:41). Remember the story of Rahab the harlot in Joshua 2? Apparently, a person can even be Lost while they are living in the Promised Land. Who da thot!
In the New Testament, distinguishing between the ‘Lost and the Found Department’ is not very easy either.
The disciples consistently are Lost, Found, and Lost again -- worrying over who has the best seats in the kingdom or asking God to call down thunder when folks would not give Jesus lodging. In the end, they get Found – Again!
Joseph Caiaphas, the High Priest seems Found – after all, he knows God’s laws and has the power to anoint the Messiah much as Samuel did to Saul and David. But surely, he is Lost – treating Jesus with sarcasm and utter contempt.
John the Baptist seems Found -- thrown in prison because of his condemnation of Herod’s adulterous affair with Herodias (Mark. 6:17ff). But then he seems confused – even Lost, when he sends a message to Jesus asking Him if He’s really the one (Matthew 11:3).
My point is, there is more than just one kind of Lost-ness or Found-ness in this world. And I would offer that there is probably a little or a lot of Lost-ness found in any one of us. After all, Lost-ness and Found-ness are not just categories for getting into the Kingdom of God. Lost / Found can also apply to believers already in the Kingdom.
Luke 15:1-24 (or v. 32), is one of my favorite stories. Here, the complaining Pharisees and teachers of the Law condemn Jesus for hanging around ‘Tax Collectors’ and ‘Sinners’ (15:1). One would think having unbelievers hanging out with Jesus would be a cause for celebration, but it does not happen. So, with His reputation called into question, Jesus tells us a wonderful human-interest story involving the agony a parent feels over a Lost son or daughter. Of the 32+ recorded parables of Jesus, this one has been called, “The world’s greatest short story.” No guess work as to why!
The boy is tearing the family up. Life apparently is not going where he wants it to go. Life has dealt him a bad hand – or so he thinks. Getting his share of his father’s estate, he converts his assets into cash and spends his way into Lost-ness. He squanders everything (v. 13). And if it wasn’t for bad luck, he would have had no luck at all – because the Bible says that, “there was a severe famine in that whole country and he began to be in need” (v. 14).
Now he is not only Lost, he is unlucky as well. In verse 13 we were told that the boy had “set off for a distant country.” It was distant all right — because working as a Jewish farm hand on a farm full of non-kosher Gentile pigs is about as far away as you can get.
Thankfully, the Bible says (v. 17) “he came to his senses.” Sure, he makes his decision simply based on his hunger, not a change of heart. But does it really matter? After all, isn’t the 1st step in being Found realizing that we don’t want to be Lost anymore?
Ever go to an AA meeting? Trying to keep a leash on their booze – someone stands up and says, “Hi, My Name is Joe . . . and I’m an alcoholic!” What they really are saying is
“Hi, I’m Joe . . . and I am Lost and want to be Found.”
Well, the Lost son goes home and gets Found. Listen to the sense of God’s joy as seen in the Father: “But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son…and kissed him much” (v. 20; RSV). The over-flowing love of God is amazing, isn’t it?
Verse 22 essentially says they put a Benny Hinn suit on him, not unlike the one I use to wear until I retired, killed a fatted calf, threw some Mesquite chips on the BBQ – and later sat down to some Prime Rib and Baked Potatoes. Why all of this fuss? “For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was Lost and is Found” (v. 24).
One prodigal comes to his senses and gets Found in the pig pen;
Another prodigal climbs down out of a tree and gets Found at home;
A 3rd prodigal gets Found while hanging on a cross;
But our ‘Lost-ness’ is not simply geographic, is it? Sometimes we are Lost even when we know where we are and who we are.
We are Lost when we lose our job or our dreams get hammered or we are diagnosed with cancer — and we make God the scape goat;
We are Lost when we hold grudges against others and allow that sour water to nourish our souls until we become miserable, negative thinking, cantankerous Christians;
We are Lost when we ignore the mystery of God’s grace and make choices to live as we wish ... rather than as God wishes;
We are Lost when we no longer hope in God because He has not come through as we thought. Besides, we cannot seem to find any mile-markers in our personal desert that suggest He indeed is interested in us;
We are Lost when we trade character for accomplishments ... or waste every day of our lives fixing things instead of giving thanks that the flaws just do not matter;
We are Lost when we allow the things we do not have, to define us;
God knows a thing or two about Lost and Found.
He Lost His creation to Sin ... and He Lost His Son
to Sin as well. Yet like the Father in the
prodigal son’s story — He chooses grace.
We are Found when we make God our joy and see those blessings that we do have as windows into heaven;
We are Found when we express the grace of God in gratitude morning by morning, no matter what else greets us or attaches itself to us in the course of a day;
We are Found when we resist those silly battles that other people want to draw us into; when we know that their effects will lead to regrets, ill-feelings and a wasted relationship;
We are Found when we stop trying to hustle God’s blessing through our work, our wealth, or our marriages. Said another way – when we stop collecting more money, more power and more achievements;
We are Found when we teach our children that in spite of the great programs we have for church in the church, home is the place where faith is learned and modeled;
We are Found when we no longer require perfection of others or carry the burden of perfection for ourselves;
We are Found when we ignore a society that keeps telling us we can ignore things that are not relevant to us ... and that the point of worship is not so that it is relevant to us, but to make it relevant to God;
We are Found when we break the pattern of sin by choosing to have faith in the mercy of God – and understand that our ability to believe does not depend on what is going on in our lives ... because the faithfulness of God is greater than that.
Jimmy and I were two prodigals, who later on that hot, steamy July afternoon in Montreal ... suddenly realized that our Christian self-righteousness made us Lost too – and we were in dire need of being Found.
What I am trying to say here is that one of the most important aspects of the Christian life is that while salvation makes us right with God, it may not remove all of the lost-ness inside us all at once. Paul understood this long after he left the Damascus Road. That is why he wrote in Romans 7:15, “For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate.” Paul the Christian, was struggling with Lost-ness!
Some folks get Lost when they wonder away, like sheep (Luke 15:4-7)
Some folks get Lost in the midst of just everyday living, misplacing something valuable right where they live (Luke 15:8-10)
Some folks get Lost, when head-strong and full of complaint, they head for ‘a distant country’ (Luke 15:11-24)
Being Lost is scary. However, it is just as scary
being Found – especially when God demonstrates
such radical grace towards us.
The good news is that God’s grace will persevere to find us. There is a singleness of purpose to God – a persistence, a firmness, a steadfastness, a determination, a plodding, a tenacity - to the purpose of redeeming us from our Lost-ness;
The father of the prodigal had a just reason for refusing to receive him. The son was right to say, “I have sinned” (v. 18) ... and “I am not worthy” (v. 19) but his father’s love did not start with the son’s return. He had never stopped loving his son. He loved him when he was not worthy of any love ... when the son was estranged from him and squandered his inheritance ... and even when he was unclean with pig doo. God loves the lost ... searches for them ... restores them ... even confers privilege on them – taking them from Lost to Found. Does it get any better than that?
Turning ALL of us from Lost-ness to Found- ness is a cause for great celebration by God -- celebration both on the earth (vv. 6, 9, 22-25) and in heaven (vv. 7, 10). God has a universe to run and galaxies to uphold and atomic particles to manage and governments to rule. Yet, nothing transforms heaven into a place of special joy more, then when someone, including Jimmy and I - who were Lost ... are Found! “Only Saying...”