Welcome to this Come to Jesus Daily Devotional as we continue in our Luke, Exploring Who Jesus is series. Today, from Luke 15:8-10, we reflect on how Jesus uses this parable about searching for a lost coin to continue to teach and reinforce to us how we should also seek to bring lost people back to God.
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‘“Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins and loses one. Doesn’t she light a lamp, sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it? And when she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbours together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost coin.’ In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.” (Luke 15:8-10)
Again, using an everyday and easy to understand analogy, Jesus teaches about the importance of lost people. With this parable of the lost coin, He teaches and corrects them regarding God’s attitude to ‘sinners’ and, added to this, teaches and corrects them as to what their attitude to ‘sinners’ should be.
Firstly, as we saw yesterday, He is confronting and correcting the self-righteous people who were around Him. He is revealing their ungodly attitude to people whom they deem to be condemnable. In effect, they are like a person who would be content to lose one of their precious coins. They don’t light the lamp and search carefully. Maybe, they are like many of us who, whilst enjoying our own salvation, are not moved to pray and act in order to help to bring the lost to Jesus!
Today, I want us to focus on the second lesson that the three parables of lost things in this chapter teach us: the second lesson is that Jesus reveals that everyone, without Him, is lost! Jesus is telling the crowds that they are lost and need to be found. They are astray. They need to come back to the good shepherd - whether we are to self-righteous teachers or the crowds eager to hear Jesus - all are lost and need to be found. In Romans we read of the lostness of all people:
‘What shall we conclude then? Do we have any advantage? Not at all! For we have already made the charge that Jews and Gentiles alike are all under the power of sin. As it is written: “There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands; there is no one who seeks God. All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one.”’ (Romans 3:9-12)
Likewise, do we lovingly make it clear to people that they are lost and need to come to Jesus? Jesus’ love doesn’t hide the truth of being lost. It’s easy for us to so focus on and point out the self-righteous people, that we fail to remember that we, like them, are sinners and are lost. The lost sheep, lost coin and the lost son are precious, but they are lost and need to be found and come home to God!
Let’s pray together
“Lord Jesus, forgive me when I’ve counted some people as more lost than others. Forgive me when I’ve not rejoiced as I should in the way that I was lost but was found by you. Help me to wisely and lovingly reveal the lostness of those who don’t know you. As you used these stories so may I use words that will helpfully reveal peoples’ lost condition and your deep love and desire that they be ‘found’ through your gospel. Amen.”
Community Group Notes
1. Notices
It might be good to begin with notices. Please share from this week’s Church News.
2. Icebreaker
How has God been speaking to you from His Word this week, or maybe from our week of prayer, and how has this helped you?
3. Worship together
Let’s begin our time together by lifting our eyes and hearts to worship our great God. Perhaps you have readings and songs that you would like to use together. Let’s be open to the gifts that the Spirit wants to give in order to encourage one another.
4. Study and pray together
Sunday’s message from our Luke series was about how God loves lost and found things.
In our message on Sunday from Luke 15:1-32, We see how Jesus - the ‘friend of sinners’ - gives three parables that repeat the idea that those who are far from God and those who come home to God are loved by Him and, therefore, should be loved by us.
Please read Luke Luke 15:1-32 and discuss:
Did God speak to you about anything from Sunday’s message?
What do you think is the main idea of Luke 15:1-32?
All three parables (The Lost Sheep, Coin and The Lost Son) teach the same things. What do they teach about:
The spiritual condition of all people?
God’s attitude to lost things?
The poor attitudes that we can all have?
God’s attitude to ‘found’ things?
SIV - What does 15:1-32 teach about the attitudes we are to have, and actions that we are to take in regard to lost people?
SIV - Do we have any stories of how we have ‘Served, Invested, and inVited’ recently?
SIV - Spend some time together talking and praying about who and how you are seeking to bring your community to Jesus.
Let’s pray together: Pray for one another out of our study together and for anything else for which people would like prayer.
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