I Can See Clearly Now

I CAN SEE CLEARLY NOW

Luke 15 1-10

Do you see these?(Glasses) These are a wonderful thing because they help me to see things more clearly. Without them things are distorted…fuzzy…blurry and that can cause serious problems.

Can’t see the clock, can’t see very far down the highway, can’t see where to step.
When you can’t see clearly it can be serious.

Do you see this (Bible)? This is a wonderful thing because it helps us to see things more clearly. Without it, things often get distorted…fuzzy and blurry.

It helps us to see things the way God sees things…the way things really are.
And not only does it help us to see things in the spiritual realm but it helps us to see things clearly up close in the physical realm.

God wants us to see things clearly…because when we have a distorted view of things, when things are blurry, we sometimes are not motivated to do what God wants us to.

And the reality is Satan doesn’t want you to see things clearly because he doesn’t want you to do what God wants.

This morning, let’s look at the passage that was read and hopefully see some things clearly the way God sees them.

If you would, look at verse 1-2 again and let’s read them.

1 Now all the tax-gatherers and the sinners were coming near Him (Jesus) to listen to Him. And both the Pharisees and the scribes {began} to grumble, saying, “This man receives sinners and eats with them.”

The Pharisees and the scribes were jealous of the following and the attention that Jesus was getting.

So, here in this verse they try to discredit Jesus by saying, “He receives sinners.”
He keeps company with the kind of people that a man of God would have nothing to do with.

And Jesus responds to their accusations with 3 stories in an effort to get them to see more clearly.

Three stories to try and get them to see things the way God sees them.
Three stories that hopefully will help us to see more clearly also.

Let’s look at the first story starting in verse 4 and notice, the first story is for the men.

Look at what he says:

“What man among you, if he has a hundred sheep and has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open pasture, and go after the one which is lost, until he finds it? “And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. “And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost!’ “I tell you that in the same way, there will be {more} joy in heaven over one sinner who repents, than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.

Now, this story may seem a little strange to us because, for most of us, we cannot imagine a sheep being worth all the bother.

But we don’t understand their culture.
In their day sheep were not raised for meat but for their wool.
And sheep were invaluable financially because the wool could be harvested over and over again.
And because they would keep their sheep for many years they would become attached to them…sometimes naming their sheep.
And the loss of a sheep would be very emotionally upsetting to the family.
And so the shepherd would leave the 99 and go out in search of this very precious sheep.

And notice it says that the man “goes after the one which is lost, until he finds it.”

We have all lost something, maybe a wallet, or keys, or a ring, and you start searching for it; and you look and you look for it; you look in your car, all over the house, under the cushions on the couch.
You even look in places you know it can’t possibly be.
And as you search you become more and more frantic.
- I don’t get the impression that this man just simply said, “Oh well, it is lost” and dismisses it.

And when he found the sheep he simply said, “I found my sheep.”

That is not what he did.

The passage says that when he found his sheep he put it on his shoulders, “rejoicing.”

And then he goes back to the village and says, “Hey everyone, I found my sheep. Rejoice with me!”
And then he says, “That’s the way it is in heaven.”

And then Jesus says, “Now, a story for the women.” Verse 8:

“Or what woman, if she has ten silver coins and loses one coin, does not light a lamp and sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it? “And when she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin which I had lost!’ “In the same way, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”

Ladies, that coin is not some quarter that falls out of her change purse.

When Jesus speaks of 10 silver coins…often they would link coins together and make a head dress…and the mothers would pass them down to their daughters.
And these things were of a great sentimental value.

But there was another possibility.

In those days the women would make a necklace linking the 10 silver coins together.
And they would wear them as a symbol of the fact that they were a married woman
And that they had a home and a family.
And when she lost one of those coins it would be like you losing your wedding ring.

You don’t put a monetary value on something like that.

That coin stood for everything that is important to her.
It is a big deal to lose it.

And it is a big deal to find it.

Notice in verse 9, when she finds it she calls her friends and says, “Rejoice with me. I have found the coin which I lost.”

These things mattered.

They couldn’t be replaced.
They had to be found.
And when they were found, notice, both times, “Lets rejoice…lets celebrate.“

Then, after Jesus told the story for the men and the women, He told a story for everyone.

And we are not going to read it…but let me paraphrase it real quick.
Man has two boys.
Youngest son says, Dad, I have lived your way long enough I am ready to live my way.
And you aren’t dead soon enough. I want my inheritance now.
Dad gives it to him.

The younger son takes his inheritance and goes to a “distant country.”

And he squanders all that he had.
And as a result he is reduced to feeding the pigs.
And he becomes so hungry that he is tempted to eat what the pigs are eating.
And at that point he decides to go home.

And as he is approaching home…his father sees him.

He is weak, filthy, smelly, and broke.
And the only thing that was more of a spectacle than he was, was his father.

His father runs down the road to meet him…and the father embraces his son…and kisses him…and calls for a robe…and sandals…and a ring.

And what does the father say next?
He says, “Let’s have a feast and ”
“My boy was dead but now he is alive.”
“He was lost but now he is found.”
And it says in verse 24 that “they began to be merry.”

Now, what is it that we need to see clearly from these 3 stories?

Well, there are many things…and perhaps you have already seen some of them.
But this morning I just want to mention two.

One is something that I think we need to be reminded of…and the other is something that I fear we are afraid to do….or maybe the first one is so unimportant to us that we aren’t motivated to do the second.

Let’s begin with the first one…First of all I think God wants us to see the “truth in regard to separation.”

In all three stories the thing valued is separated from the one to whom it belongs.
And each time it is referred to as “”
And in all three stories the owner experiences great agony over this “lost-ness”.
That is because Biblically speaking it is a terrible thing to be

You take that sheep from the first story for example.

You can walk all over Palestine to this very day you will not find a single herd of wild sheep in the place.
Because a lost sheep in Palestine is a dead sheep.
That is what it means to be lost.
It is a terrible, horrible word.

If you look through your Bibles at some ways that this word is used and you find it is the word the disciples used when they were on the boat that was sinking in the storm and they said, “Master, don’t you care that we are perishing?”

It is the word used in 2 Peter 3:9 when the apostle said, “God is not willing that any should perish but that everyone should repent.”
It is the word used of Judas when Jesus said, “Not one of them perished but the son of perdition.”
A form of the word is used to give name to the angel of the abyss, “Apollyon” in Revelation 9.

It is a terrible thing to be separated from the One to whom you belong

And yet that is exactly what the prophet Isaiah says that our sins have done.

He says in Isaiah 59:2: “That your sins have separated you from your God.”
And what does sin lead too?
It leads to death. Romans 6, James 1 is clear about that.

Now, I say that because today, there seems to be a tremendous reluctance among us to talk or to use the word “lost.”

It is easier for us to use or talk about the “world” than it is to talk about the “lost”.
Today every one is a sinner, but no one is “lost”.
Even in churches it seems we are reluctant to deal with this very Biblical idea.

In churches there is a real effort being put forth to stress God’s grace…and to get us in churches of Christ to “rediscover His grace”.

That movement is so strong that it is almost as if it is incompatible to talk of grace and being lost at the same time.
But the irony is grace loses its beauty and appeal when we give up the idea of being lost.
Grace is good news only to those who need rescuing.

And it is this idea of lost-ness that puts the church in a different business than every one else.

Other people feed the hungry. WE should too.
Other people shelter the homeless. WE should too.
Other agencies and institutions call for high morals and conduct. WE should too.

But only the church is in the business of recovering the lost.

Jesus says, “The Son of Man came to seek and save the lost.”
And that was His response when people asked Him why He spent so much time with sinners.
And we must not ever get far away from this idea.
For when we do…we are not seeing clearly…and Satan has benefited from our poor sight.

But there is also another idea in this story that we seem to be afraid of or maybe we don’t feel the need to do this because we don’t understand what it is to find that which is lost.

A basic point of each story is the description of the rejoicing that goes inevitably with finding.

Everyone in these 3 stories is happy. Did you notice that?
Everyone loves the ending except for two.
The other brother and the fatted calf.
They don’t like how it ends.
But everyone else loves it.

The older brother, when he hears about the feast and the rejoicing is upset at the joy of the father.

To him it is discriminatory. It is not fair!

And the father responds to the son, by saying, “Son your brother was lost and he is found. Your brother was dead and now he is alive.”

And in verse 32 he says, “We had to be merry.”
That is a powerful thought.

That word, “we had to” be merry in the Greek is one of the strongest words in the gospel of Luke.

It is used only at special times for special occasions.
It is used when Jesus said, “I must suffer many things.”
“I must be buried. I must be raised again.”
It is used when the Bible speaks and says that the prophets’ words must be fulfilled.
And it is used here to say, “God must be merry when the lost are saved.”

If God says He must be merry when someone is saved…shouldn’t we?

In the past we have had some who were baptized…we have had some who were lost that came home.
Did you run down the aisle to meet them…to embrace them…to put the robe of fellowship and the ring of brotherhood on their finger?
Or did you slip out the back, indifferent…seemingly uncaring…never speaking a word?
Did you by word or deed show that person and any other person who might need to come home how important it is for them to do so…or did you show them that “it is not that important and that you don’t really care.”

We are to be God’s example to those around us.

What we do is supposed to manifest what God would do?
When we are indifferent and seemingly uncaring…do those who come home get the impression that God doesn’t care either?

Several years ago, my daughter went to Germany…was gone for just under two years.

When she came home…she was sick…weak…tired and weary.
We went to the airport in Lubbock to pick her up…and her old dad couldn’t wait to see her.
We hit the airport lobby…and I was searching…and if the others were too slow, I left them behind.
And when I finally saw her…I couldn’t get her in my arms fast enough.
She was home! And she knew that I cared…that all of us that were there that day cared.
How do you think she would have felt if I had not been there?
If I had been indifferent to her.
If I had acted as though it was a real bother for me to have to come get her?
Do you think she might have wondered why she came home at all?

How do we make those who have left home…and who have come back…feel?

God wants us to see clearly. To help us He gives us His word.

If we see “the lost” in the terrible, desperate situation they are really in…then perhaps we will be motivated to search frantically for them.
And then when they come home…perhaps we too…will be compelled to rejoice.