"Joy When Someone Finally Gets It"

Sermon Delivered By Reverend Richard E. Stetler – September 15, 2013

Centenary United Methodist Church

Psalm 14; Luke 15:1-10

 

    When I was in grade school, students received a children’s publication called, The Weekly Reader.  While most of the more mature students read the articles, my first response was to turn to the back page to work a puzzle entitled, “Find Your Way Home?”  It was one of those complicated mazes with lots of dead-ends. Only one path took the student from Start to Home.  I can remember the feeling of satisfaction when I got to the end without running into a single dead-end.

    In many respects life is just another maze that we have to negotiate. Think about it.  After getting properly trained by our parents during the first six years of life, we embark on a trail that takes us through various social groups and detours during our years of formal education in the school system.  

    After those years, our path begins to branch off in all directions. We launch from serious relationships that can lead to marriage.  Some young people further their education at the college and university level.  Every one embarking on a career eventually settles into a work environment.  Do we encounter paths that lead to dead-ends?  You bet we do!  

    Our lesson from Luke today features Jesus teaching what has been captured by many artists.  These renderings feature Jesus walking back to the flock with a lamb draped around his shoulders.  The inference is that Jesus is The Good Shepherd, a loving presence that comes searching for lambs that have lost their way and have become separated from the rest of the flock.

    This morning we are going to discuss this image and message.  What are we to think about the words of Jesus, “I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine respectable people who do not need to repent.”? (Luke 15:7)

This statement is very clear, particularly the word sinner and the need to repent. 

    Historically, Christianity has always been about encouraging sinners to repent.  Some times, such a mission statement by some Christians has driven some people away from the church, particularly during the 21st Century.  Sensitive people have an allergy to religious zealots who believe they have some exclusive insight into a formula for salvation. 

    No one likes to be judged by those who have never walked in their shoes.  So, by making such judgments, the righteous often reveal their own flaws of personalities and spirits.  When people make judgments, they are only revealing themselves.    

    The word “sinner” is an archery term adopted by the early church to define people who are engaged in behavior that is thought to be evil.  These are people that are exhibiting attitudes that are socially unacceptable.  The truth is that all people, whether they are religious or not, are wandering through the maze of the material world, a world that is filled with allures that can be very confusing.

    The word sinner means “to miss the mark -- the bull’s-eye.”  Likewise, the word “repent” does not refer to people who have become profoundly sorry for their behavior, deeds and attitudes, and have come to the priest seeking forgiveness. The word repent is French and describes people who change their thinking. We can readily understand why Christianity incorporated these terms into its theology.

    Through the years, the Church’s message has lost its appeal.  People are no longer fearful of the wagging tongues of clergy that have a history of denouncing people’s lifestyle.  They no longer are interested in hearing about the prospect of eventually standing before some deity that may not be happy with them.  With this being said, it certainly does not take a genius to recognize that millions of people are finding life only mildly satisfying if they can even say that much about the quality of their experience.

    An increasing number of people no longer have a thirst for religious faith as something they need.  Young people want their relationships to be focused on having a good time. Many tolerate their jobs, look at the clock constantly and live for the weekends and holidays. They find happiness a fleeting quality that remains unsustainable.  They plod along believing that life is what you make it and they do not know how to make it better. 

    In our passage today, we have an image of Jesus searching for a lamb that has wandered away from the flock.  Is this an image that unchurched people today would find appealing?  Probably not!  People that do not know they are lost are wandering everywhere.  They reason that “If only I had a much bigger paycheck, if only I were as gorgeous or as handsome as the people in the television commercials, or if only I had more accomplishments to my credit, I would have it made.” 

    This wish list is filled with nothing more than calls for love.  Several well-known personalities have everything on that list and more, but their accomplishments have not produced the result that all people want.  What is happening to a number of gorgeous, wealthy, and the extremely talented people to cause them to crash their cars, to be found deceased in a bathtub due to a drug overdose or that go from one rehabilitation clinic to another?  What lesson are these and other examples teaching us?      

    As we look back over our lives, most of us are aware that there were certain people that entered the stage of our lives at just the right moment.  They influenced us and sent our lives in a different direction.  It is amazing how that process has become so clear through hindsight.  We learn the meaning of, “When the student is ready, the teacher-guide will come.”

    Early in my life, I learned to turn everyone into my personal trainer. That process can be painful sometimes.  Often we need someone to pierce our comfort zones in order to wake us up to our much greater potential.  One of my acquaintances told me that she could not understand my preaching style.  She gave me valuable feedback.  She said,

Dick I need structure to a sermon.  I need three points and a poem.  For example, give me three C’s.  Talk about Commitment, Communication, and Compassion and I can get it. Your delivery is all over the landscape.  You transition so quickly from one point to another that I cannot follow what you are saying.

    I had another person enter my life when my path was not clear.  When I was planning to leave the ministry, I had a friend call me while they were experiencing a psychotic episode.  He rambled everywhere and finally said in a very clear voice, “Dick, I understand that you are planning to leave the ministry.  I am asking you to reconsider that possibility and not do that.  You are not like the others. People need to hear and read what you say.” After he said that his ranting continued.   His words helped me to make one of the major decisions of my life. 

    I also had a running conversation with Lois’ brother in my backyard one evening after he had been killed in a car accident a number of weeks earlier.  He and his wife were coming to visit us.  He gave me information that I needed to act on immediately.  His wife was planning to take her life because she felt responsible for Keith’s death.  That experience deeply impacted my life and anchored me in my profession.         

    My point is that we can have many forms of guidance surrounding us trying to penetrate our day to day activities.  However, if we do not recognize our need for guidance, its availability will not matter.  We have to remain open to guidance or we will meander through the maze of life until our deaths and never get it.  We will never understand our purpose for being born if we do not expand our minds and remain open.

    Once I was with a group of adults in a rural retreat center.  After lunch I went for a walk in a deep forest that was magnificent.  The forest was populated with very old, mature trees that were gigantic.  The property had never been cleared.  It was known as an ancient forest and was being protected by the Federal Government. There was very little underbrush so in every direction there were unobstructed places to walk.  I had wandered aimlessly for about a half hour watching all kinds of wild life.   

    Suddenly this awesome experience ended when I realized that I was lost.  All around me the scenery was the same. I had no idea what direction to walk in order to return to the facility.  Rather than risk walking any further, I decided to sit down on the ground and remain silent.  It was not long before I heard the sounds of others playing badminton.  Their sound provided me with the direction I needed to walk.  When we know we are lost, we can change our thinking and do something about it.

    All of us have the ability to experience intuitive urges that come from our inner world.  We call them hunches.  Guidance comes in different forms but our spirit must be ready to receive it.  We can play a vital role in people’s lives and never realize it. For example, we may give someone a book to read that changes their life.  We might invite someone to go to church with us never realizing that they are going through a rough patch in their life. 

    Guidance comes more easily when we realize that we need it.  Why would anyone seek guidance when they have learned to adjust and tolerate where they are in life? People that are not ready could say, “Go to church?  Are you kidding me?”  “A book?  I haven’t read a book in years.”   In other words, people have to recognize they have missed the mark and misplaced their purpose for living and change how they think. This is called repentance. 

    Most of us know the name of the wealthiest British novelist the world has every known.  At 48 years of age, J. K. Rowling has sold over 400 million books.  She began writing when she was penniless.  She refused to stay with thoughts of poverty and failure.  She changed her thinking and today she has banked over one billion dollars. 

    The primary source of her success has come from her imagination.  Has anyone ever seen their imagination?  Do we know its source?  If it is located in our brains, why aren’t more people accessing and using it to navigate the maze of life?  Are they looking for Jesus to come and save them, to carry them back home?

    The answer is simple.  Many people are so focused on finding their gold in the external world that they have become blind.  Everything anyone could possibly need to make a success of their lives comes from their inner world. The church has always been a source for helping us to remember this.  When that source is no longer relevant to modern people, this information is not passed on to their children.  Without a purpose, without a destination, without a rudder to their ship, their lives often languish in a wasteland.

    Perhaps the old message of the Church needs to be repackaged into a language we moderns understand with greater clarity.  Jesus told his disciples to go into the world and help people to find the true source of everything they could possibly want in this life. (Matthew 6:33) The road home takes us within ourselves where the power of God dwells. While it is hard for us to understand today, many people are living with this remarkable creative power and they do not realize that they have it. 

    Now that we may have a better understanding of navigating the maze of life, perhaps we can better appreciate the Scripture, “I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine respectable people who do not need to repent.”  (Luke 15:7)

    This morning, count your blessings.  Most of us have never left one of the best sources that remind us each week who we are and who we serve.  This orientation toward life saves us from a host of temptations, detours and dead-end paths.  While in a much different form, God’s love does come and still offers guidance when we remain open to receive it.