The Persistent Grace of God
Rev. Richard A. Bolland

Luke 15:1-10
(September 26, 2004 Sermon Transcript)

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        Grace, mercy and peace from God our Father and from Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

        From our Gospel lesson we read, I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.

        Persistence is a valued character trait that we value in people. Indeed, when we looked at the Olympics this summer, we watched, at least I did, with admiration as we watched those long-distance marathon runners run through the heat of that scorching, Grecian summer, through mile after mile, until finally coming in and finishing the race.

        And of course, winners get a lot of cheers and ovations! But even more than the winners of such marathon races do we admire those who seem to make the race against all odds. For those old enough to remember the 1968 Olympics, in Mexico City, you will remember, perhaps, the name of John Akhwari, of Tanzania. He was a long-distance runner favored to win the race, from a nation of long-distance runners famous for their abilities. He was expected to win, but instead he came in absolutely dead last.

        Indeed, during the course of the race, he had fallen and injured his knee. And yet he persisted in the race. And as he finally came into the stadium, literally, the lights of the stadium were being turned off. But when they saw him, they turned them back on again. And as he began to struggle, bloody and bandaged, around his final lap, and finally crossing the finish line, those who remained in attendance there gave him the loudest roar they could muster, for their numbers. He persistently kept running his race.

        We admire persistence like that.

        Indeed, when asked why he hadn’t withdrawn from the race, he answered, "My country did not send me 7000 miles to start the race. They sent me 7000 miles to finish it."

        In today’s gospel reading, dear friends, we see and example of divine persistence. It is the divine persistence of the Lord for lost souls. Out of His love for fallen sinners, our Lord tells a group of self-righteous Pharisees that they too are being persistently sought by the Lord of grace, who wishes them to be members of the grace of God, in heaven forever, children of the Good Shepherd.

        I would suggest we ask ourselves a question this morning. Exactly who is the object of God’s grace? And let me quickly furnish the answer. The sinner of every description! It seems Jesus had a habit of hanging our with somewhat disreputable folks, at least, disreputable in the eyes of many in the community.

        These were folks who were shunned and repudiated by those who considered themselves to be far more righteous. This text indicates that such disreputable folks regularly gathered to hear Jesus. And quite frankly, some who watched were scandalized by it.

        These were the worst of the lots. And, this gets easier to say the closer we get to April 15, some were tax collectors, and other open sinners. Even sometimes our Lord would commit the seemingly unpardonable sin of actually dining with these people! You must understand that, in that culture, to eat with someone means far more than it means to eat in our culture with someone. It means that you accepted them as family.

        And so they were truly scandalized when Jesus did that!

        The attitude of the Pharisees and teachers of the law, who were watching all this, was that such people should simply be shunned and damned, as they obviously were. Leave them alone. Since this was the nature of such sinners, according to them, righteous people had no call to associate with them, especially if they held themselves out to be teachers of the things of God, as did our Lord Jesus Christ.

        And so, scandalized, they did not treat sinners in such fashion, but rather, despised them. They were scandalized that Jesus did not treat them in the same way that they treated them.

        Indeed, so offended by Jesus’ association with sinners were the Pharisees and teachers of the law, that they don’t even mention Him by name! And by the way, if you read the gospel carefully, you will see that, near the end of His ministry, that, in fact, rarely did they mention Jesus by name, even in His presence. And this text is typical. They refer to Jesus as "this man".

        Yes, it was terrible in the teachers’ eyes to be receiving of such sinners. And it was unspeakably terrible to them. It seems that Jesus rightly perceives that these Pharisees and teachers of the law are in worst shape spiritually than the sinners He’s been speaking to and eating with.

        Indeed, we find that anyone who believes themselves to have kept the law, and therefore is deserving of God’s forgiveness is, by definition, lost and condemned. Let me say that again. Anyone who believes themselves to have kept the law, and therefore is deserving of God’s grace is, by definition, lost and condemned.

        Such people look to themselves rather than to the grace of God. In the cross of Jesus Christ they find no particular value, because it’s not necessary for them to receive the forgiveness of sins, that God died on a cross. And so, deluding themselves into thinking they are saved, in fact, they are not.

        No one is so lost, dear brothers and sisters, as the sheep that thinks itself safe, when, in fact, it has wandered quite away, and has gotten quite lost, and away from the protection of the shepherd of the sheep.

        Today as well, many console themselves with a misconception of self-righteousness. It comes in many ways and in many forms, but essentially it’s the same. And in so doing, they incorrectly assume that they are just fine with God. After all, "I’ve done the best I could", they will rationalize.

        But thank God, that God in Christ persistently pursues sinners, and brings them to repentance and faith. Jesus employs a parable. And it’s an interesting parable because it’s so obviously true that no one, even though he might verbally say so, can deny it in his own heart. It simply is true on the face of it.

        Israel is a land of shepherds, and everyone in Israel, virtually everyone, knows the practices of good shepherds. And of course it would be obvious to anyone in that kind of a culture and society, that if one sheep were missing you would leave the 99 and go looking for that sheep until you find it. Otherwise, they would not be good shepherds!

        Likewise, the Savior finds lost ones! And the church does so as well. Empowered by the word of God, and the sacraments of God, rightly taught and rightly administered, God’s people of the church seek after that lost sheep that we live with, and who live around us at all times.

        There is no sinner who is beyond the seeking out of the Good Shepherd. Indeed, the arrogant Pharisees and teachers of the law are precisely the people to whom Jesus is offering His rescue. The argument is painfully and stridently clear! If the Pharisee would seek after a lost sheep separated from the herd, shall Jesus not seek after, at least with equal enthusiasm, human beings who have wandered from their creator?

        Please keep in mind this next point with some clarity.

        It is the Savior, it is the Good Shepherd, who seeks and finds the wayward sheep! It is not the wayward sheep, nor, if you wish to extend it to the parable of the lost coin, neither the coin comes looking for the shepherd, or the housekeeper.

        One of my favorite quotes from C.S. Lewis, from Christian Reflections, reads this way. "I never had the experience of looking for God. It was the other way around. He was the hunter and I was the deer. He stalked me like a redskin, took unerring aim, and fired. And I am very thankful this was how our first meeting occurred. It forearms one against subsequent fears that the whole thing was only wish-fulfillment. Something that one didn’t wish for can hardly be that!"

        And Mr. Lewis hits the mark, squarely on the head! It is never the fallen, unregenerate man who chases after our Lord, nor makes a decision for Him. But rather, it is the fallen, unregenerate man who does not have the least inclination to seek after God. But God, in Christ, graciously pursues us with His law, hammering us with His unrelenting demands, and then drives us, out of desperation, to the gospel. And there offers us His sweet grace and forgiveness. Our Lord picks us up as tired, battered, lost sheep, exhausted from the struggle of life without Him, and loads us on His broad shoulders, and bears us home.

        There, dear friends, and only there, can we find safe pasture. We find safe pasture in the perfect life of Jesus, where alone we can claim righteousness before God. For our sins are covered, not with our own failed attempts at being righteous, but rather with the perfection of Christ Himself. So that there can be absolutely no doubt in your mind, nor in mine, concerning our righteousness before God, for it is identical with that of His Son.

        Here alone is the holiness that we could not obtain! Here alone is the keeping of the law that we cannot keep! And here alone is our claim to be the saints of God.

        It always impresses me when St. Paul writes to the Corinthians, which was a thoroughly messed-up congregation, as most of our congregations are from time to time, that Paul addresses them this way. Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus, by the will of God and Timothy our brother, to the church of God in Corinth together with all the saints throughout Achaia

        Just for the record, saints are holy people. And so this messed-up sinning congregation, who can’t even figure out how to do the Lord’s Supper right is described by the apostle as a saint. And he himself is a saint. Of course, we’re used to saying things like "St. Paul". But if you listen to our lesson today, you would have to wonder about that. He was, after all, a blasphemer and a persecutor of the church of God, and declares himself to be the worst sinner that he knows. And indeed, he is. As am I the worst sinner that I know. And are you the worst sinner that you know.

        And yet, God’s grace has come to us. He comes to us persistently, through the cross, and through the power of His word, and in the power of His sacraments, to remind us that we are His own. Yes, we find safe pasture in the perfect life of our Lord.

        We also find safe pasture in the punishment that was meted out to Jesus Christ our Lord. The cost of His life was the price of our redemption and even more. Jesus suffers in our place on the cross. We were the ones who should have been nailed there, rightly. Not Him. He was innocent. And then, as we watch Him struggle, how can our human minds begin to incorporate the unimaginable suffering as our Lord endures the very suffering and punishment of eternity in hell for us!

        For God is just. And sins must be punished. And the only question is, "Upon whom will the punishment fall?" And thanks be to God it is upon His Son, even whose innocence does not deserve it, on which that punishment comes.

        There we find safe pasture knowing that our sins have not only been forgiven by the shedding of His blood, but they have been forgiven also because the punishment for them has already been endured by someone else.

        And we find safe pasture, dear friends, even in our graves. Let it be known that, even in our graves we have conquered because we know that our Lord Jesus Christ rises from the dead! This is not some spiritual lesson that He spiritually arose. No. His dead body became alive! And so shall yours, and so shall mine! As will all bodies everywhere, some to eternal life, and others to eternal destruction.

        All the dead shall be raised as Christ was raised. And we too shall know that we shall have eternal life beyond our grave so that there is hope when our family stands before that gaping hole in the ground. And we know that this most certainly is not the end. It is only the beginning.

        And then comes the most amazing part of this verse. That the repentance of one sinner (repentance, by the way, is something that God does in us). The repentance of one sinner is worthy of a celebration of heaven, the likes of which you and I cannot begin to imagine. The hosts of all heavens lift their voices in shouts of great joy over the repentance of one sinner called to faith! This is not hyperbole. This is reality.

        R.C.H. Lenski write, of Luther, as regards to this text. "Luther understands this rightly when he speaks of the great and sudden joy when of a mother to find her sick child restored. A joy which is greater than that for all her other children who are still sound and well! We may add that the very restoration of the one brings to her mind the thought of the others, and the joy that they are still well."

        It’s not that the 99 are if less value to God. They are equally valued. But the joy of heaven is that the one who wandered away has been found, has been welcomed home.

        Let me assure you, dear brothers and sisters in Christ, at your baptism the angels of heaven cheered. They rejoiced in their joy over you! For you have the name of God given to you, and you became God’s own. And let me assure you also, brothers and sisters in Christ, if, in your foolish wanderings of your youth you wandered away from the faith and became disconnected from the means of grace and with the church, that indeed, when Christ came to find you, the cry in heaven was even louder than it was at your baptism. And let me assure you, brothers and sisters in Christ, that on the day of your arrival in heaven, once again the vault of eternity will resound with joy at your homecoming!

        All of this assurance is ours, all of it, because, in our lost estate, Jesus, the Christ of God came, persistently seeking us all. Not dissuaded by our sin, He kept coming. He had us. And then, it is you, dear child of God, who is lifted on the shoulders of the Savior, caressed by His nail-scarred hands as He carries us home. And it is you, dear child, for whom the celebration is given. The Good Shepherd of the sheep has completely forgiven your sins. The Good Shepherd of the sheep has declared you righteous children of His. Therefore, welcome home, dear children!

        In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.