Reaching The Lost

It is a semi-public holiday today (Nuzul Quran). So I decided to arrange all my stuff. Last week was really hectic. Hardly slept much.

I came across some Bible study notes I prepared in AIM which some of you all might remember. I shared it at the youth evangelistic meeting at the Sungai Pelek outreach during our mission trip.

It was basically about the parable of the lost son. Before that parable, there was the parable of the lost sheep and the lost coin. All three of them has similarities. Firstly, they were all lost and in the end were found. Secondly, they were all precious to their owner. The sheep was precious to the shepherd and the coin to the woman. The coin that was lost was worth about a day's hard-earned wage (just in case you were wondering "just a coin ma.. why so tai fan ying"). And naturally, the son was precious to his father.

But there are also differences which can be applied to our lives as well.

Carelessness (Lost Sheep)
The lost sheep illustrates the person who moves away from God unthinkingly, head down, one clump of grass at a time. The sheep wanders on from one place to the next, eyes only on what immediately lies ahead. It is unaware that it is not where it should be and all the time has been straying farther and farther from the flock and the shepherd's care. The sheep never wanted to get lost.
Similarly, People may be too preoccupied with their studies, career, relationships, problems of life and the pleasures of the world. Many are lost because they never look up and ask: "Where am I now? Why am I here? Where am I going?"

Carelessness of Others (Lost Coin)
The lost coin represents those lost through negligence or bad treatment from others. The coin cannot bleat like a sheep for help, nor find its way back like the son. It has been done in by the mistakes and wrong decisions or actions of someone else. (so sad, isn't it? but it happens)
People become damaged through victimization in a myriad of ways. The people they may have looked up to or respected caused them to have a broken concept of God. (that's why yesterday's message was so inspiring: our lives should be our ministry!!)

Personal Choice (Lost Son)
The son was deliberately lost - unlike the sheep or coin
It was not because he was unaware that he was lost nor was it because of other people's negligence. He was lost because he chose this path. Many people who once can be found in church singing worship songs, praying and serving are now no longer found in church. With influences from friends and other people around them, they start living their own lives without God in it. People without God are lost because they are ignorant of God, unlike God, and distanced from God. That is why it is so important that we be in the world (so we can influence and change it) but be not of the world (where the world influence and change us).

The shepherd searches for the sheep until he finds it (Luke 15:4). The woman also searches for the lost coin until she finds it. (Luke 15:8)
Love is not satisfied by a favourable percentage between those who are safe and those who are lost. With the sheep, 99% were safe; with the coin, 90%; and with the son, 50%. Who wouldn't want these kind of church-growth statistics? Most of us would rejoice, pat ourselves on our backs for doing a good job if 99% of the people in KL were in church.
Souls are not digits or percentages. When someone's child has died, we wouldn't go to his/her parents and say: "Never mind ma.. You still got other children.."

GOD REJOICES WHEN THE LOST ARE FOUND!!

The shepherd, the woman, and the father all rejoiced and wanted others to share their joy when the lost were found. Only one person did not rejoice: the elder son. The elder son represents the church which can go with business as usual in the Father’s house, and yet not be concerned with the lost, and never putting in any effort to find them. He represents any religious person whose relationship with God has grown lukewarm. He is the individual who has never agonized at all over a missing prodigal. He never shared the father's heartache, not does he share the tears of joy when the missing comes home.

I pray that I wouldn't be like the elder son. I pray even harder that it wouldn't be because of my mistakes or wrong choices that causes other people to stumble. And it's also important that we as children of God take on God's desire. To reach out and bring back all who are lost. Not to be satisfied or contented until all are found.