GET FOUND!

Ted & Lee, in their great two-man show Fisheyes, portray the disciples Peter and Andrew as two guys who seldom understood what Jesus was talking about.  They had particular difficulty making any sense out of the parables the Master told.  We have much in common with them.  I am constantly amazed at pastors and others who claim to know exactly what Jesus meant with these sometimes random tales.  I am frustrated by those who twist them to illustrate points they are trying to make.  Today I will most likely do both- but as usual, I'm charging ahead! 

In Luke 15:8-10, Jesus tells the parable of the Lost Coin.  Here it is from The Message:

"Or imagine a woman who has ten coins and loses one. Won't she light a lamp and scour the house, looking in every nook and cranny until she finds it? And when she finds it you can be sure she'll call her friends and neighbors: 'Celebrate with me! I found my lost coin!' Count on it—that's the kind of party God's angels throw every time one lost soul turns to God."  

Now I don't know about you, but when I first began hearing this one in Sunday School all those years ago, I thought it made no sense at all.  I mean really...who in their right mind would spend time looking for a quarter when you still had nine in your pocket?  And even if I did find it, I 'm not calling my buddies and inviting them to a party.  It sounded like Jesus was hanging out with some crazy old lady to me.  I didn't connect at all.

In fact, I'm not sure I really understood the deepest meaning of this parable until about 4 years ago, when the circumstances of my life revealed to me that I was the lost coin.  I had once felt shiny and important, part of a coin collection that was worth something.  But at some point along the way, I slipped out of pocket and rolled under the couch.  I was there for quite a while.  I know now that this parable is a reminder that Jesus NEVER stops looking for us.  He came so that the lost and sinners would know God's love, and He never gives up on us.  The "lost" are not always people who have never bowed a knee to Jesus; sometimes they are people just like me who are playing hide and seek with our Savior.  In that game, when people hide too well it is frustrating and we just yell for them to come out and start over.  Our heavenly Father is screaming at us as well- GET FOUND!  And when we do come out from our hiding place and confess our lostness, a strange thing happens.  Jesus declares us winners, and the angels throw a killer party for us.  You may believe in the doctrine of "once saved, always saved," and that may well be true.  But I can promise you this from my own experience- you can be saved and lost at the same time.  And Jesus just keeps on looking...

You may feel about yourself the way I did about the lost coin when I was younger- that you are insignificant and unworthy of being found.  That's just stinkin' thinkin'!  The Jesus Revolution is all about grace, and grace is available to everyone- even us lost coins.  We become part of that revolution when we jump in the game on the side of Jesus and help people GET FOUND!  No matter who they are- thief, gossip, heretic or sex offender- God is looking for them- or in my case, us.  "Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me!  I once was lost but now I'm found..."  The party is meant to be for everyone. The question is, are you helping deliver the invitations?

Because of Jesus,