Grace, mercy and peace through Jesus Christ, who has come to seek and save what was lost. Amen.

Luke 15:1 Now the tax collectors and "sinners" were all gathering around to hear him. ² But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, "This man welcomes sinners and eats with them." ³ Then Jesus told them this parable: ⁴ "Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Does he not leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? ⁵ And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders ⁶ and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, 'Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.' ⁷ 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. ⁸ "Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins and loses one. Does she not light a lamp, sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it? ⁹ And when she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbors together and says, 'Rejoice with me; I have found my lost coin.' ¹⁰ In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents."

Lord Jesus, help us to stop looking inwardly at our own personal problems or only focusing on our congregation’s or synod’s financial struggles, so that we may see what is really important in this world – looking outward for there are many souls who are going to hell because, frankly speaking, we just don’t care enough. Lord Jesus, you came to seek and to save what was lost. You came to save us. With your parables of the lost sheep and the lost coin, please move us to have that same compassion to seek and reach out with the message of salvation to the lost souls that are around us. Amen.

What if you lost something important to you? Maybe the keys to your car, and it was the only set you had. What would you do? Replay your day in your mind, trying to remember the last time you used those keys? Retrace your steps, looking everywhere? Blame your kids? Say to your spouse in your sweet, but accusing tone of voice, "Honey, what did you do with my keys?" Would you rifle through the stack of papers on your desk? Rummage through all the drawers in your dresser? Check all your pants pockets? Poke down into the cushions of the couch, hunting in between the stale pretzels and paperclips and pennies for your keys?

Why would you go to such trouble to find your car keys? Simple. They have value to you. Without your car keys, you won’t be going to work today. No shuttling of the kids to after-school activities. No quick drive to buy groceries for tonight’s supper.

If we’d turn our house upside-down to find our missing car keys, what would we do to find a son or daughter who has gone missing from the playground after school? We’d be calling the police. We’d be frantically begging our neighbors and friends to help us coordinate a meticulous search of every square inch of our neighborhood. We’d be plastering our town with posters. Maybe we’d even go on TV, offering a reward for anyone with information. We’d spare no effort, no time, and no cost – because our children are a treasure to us.

Hold that thought. This morning we discuss our identity as treasure seekers. Every soul is a treasure worth seeing and saving. And every soul is a treasure worth celebrating.

Indiana Jones went looking for the Holy Grail and the Ark of the Covenant. Dirk Pitt went after a long-lost Civil War battleship with a secret cargo in the movie "Sahara." Benjamin Franklin Gates spent his entire life searching for the treasure of the Knights Templar in "National Treasure." These are treasure hunters. That is their identity. They are seeking lost treasure.

Jesus talks about going after something more valuable than gold coins, statues or even the Ark of the Covenant. Jesus tells us parables about searching for lost souls.

First Jesus talks about sheep. In Christ’s day, sheep were valued for their wool, their meat, their fat (used for soaps and cosmetics), their hides, and their horns (used as a container for oil and as instruments). Even the bones of sheep were used for making items used around the house — including sewing needles.

It isn’t surprising, then, that the shepherd would leave the other ninety-nine to go find that one lost sheep. Here was the shepherd – middle class, hard-working, his sheep know his voice. He couldn’t just forget about this sheep. He wasn’t too busy to go looking for it. He couldn’t "write off" the lost for tax purposes. Instead, he searches and searches. Down in that ravine. Over in that thicket. The sun is hot. He slips on some lose stones and tears up his shin. But he doesn’t stop. "Until he finds it."

Then there’s the woman. She was poor. She only had ten drachmas, a silver coin that amounted to a day’s wages. We might call her a minimum wage worker. She lived in a humble home. Dirt floors, low ceiling. She kept her 10 coins, her life savings, in a little sack tied around her neck. But the cloth, like her robes, was old and thin. And one coin was lost.

What would you do if you knew you had misplaced 1/10^th of your savings somewhere in your house? What that woman does! She lights a lamp, though oil was costly. She sweeps and sweeps every nook and cranny of that house. Her arms ache. The sweat runs down her forehead. "Until she finds it."

Jesus taught his "lost" parables, because he was confronted by the religious establishment of his day. They didn’t share Christ’s passion for reaching out to the lost. Rather, they were sickened by it. With a sneer they said, "This man welcomes sinners and eats with them." For them, associating with "sinners" would mean risking contamination. It meant becoming ceremonially unclean. To eat with them? Even worse. See how upside down their priorities and values had become! Their "church" had become more of a private "club." Their identity was not as seekers of the lost, but as keepers of the "status quo." They were more concerned about themselves than about lost souls.

What about us? What is our identity as members of Epiphany Lutheran Church? I have to be brutally honest with you. When you really examine who we are and what we are doing in this church, it isn’t always pretty. Our actions don’t always match our confessions. For example, we profess that we are committed to Christian education for our children, yet look at our actions. We have around ninety children that could be attending Sunday School, yet we average only eleven – and that’s on a good Sunday. Where are all these children? I’m sure it isn’t their decision to stay home and skip Sunday School. We say we value Christian education, yet we pay our teachers less than the bare minimum for Synod teachers.

We say we value studying the Bible, yet how many of you come to Bible class? It is always amazing how new people come to my Bible Inquirer’s Classes and are overjoyed to hear and study the Bible. Yet there are so many of us in this church who have heard the gospel from little on and reject it. Not totally. A one-hour dose of God’s Word in worship is somehow enough to sustain us for the rest of the week. We aren’t even taking care of ourselves spiritually. How can we be expected to take care of others?

We profess to be a mission-minded congregation, yet we hardly spent any money on evangelism last year. How many people have you shared the gospel with or invited to church with you recently?

I know that many of us are focused on our congregation’s financial struggles. It has gotten so bad that our teachers are wondering if they are going to get paid next month. And because of this "crisis" it is so easy for us to focus all our efforts on preserving our precious institution, instead of focusing outward on reaching lost souls in our community and even within our own congregation. All our meeting time is spent talking about dollars and cents. Balancing budgets. Cutting programs. Have we become "keepers of the status quo"?

Now don’t get me wrong, as God’s faithful stewards, we must confront these issues, but not at the expense of reaching out. The Pharisees focused inwardly and look where it got them – chastised by the Son of God. I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to be chastised for focusing only on ourselves. That should not be the identity of this congregation of believers. Rather, I want Jesus to be proud of what we are accomplishing here – the saving of many souls. Jesus taught these simple stories to show us his passion for reaching out to the lost with his good news. Will we share our Savior’s identity of seeking and saving the lost?

Notice the reaction of the shepherd when he finds his lost sheep. "Joyfully he puts it on his shoulders." There’s joy when he ties that sheep’s legs together and slings it around his neck to carry it home. There’s joy, not grumbling, over the hot work of finding that "dumb, lost sheep." There’s joy, not complaining, over the smelly task of carrying that "stupid thing" home. And when the shepherd gets home, there aren’t any threats about having lamb chops for supper. Just more joy – joy enough to invite all his friends and neighbors for a party!

Then there’s the poor woman. When she finds her coin, she also invites her women friends and neighbors for a party. Perhaps she splurges and has food and beverages for the celebration. It’s worth it to her, because this coin is so precious to her.

Jesus used the shepherd’s joy and the woman’s joy to teach us how God rejoices over one lost sinner who repents! "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. … In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents." Imagine that! Rejoicing in heaven! An angelic celebration — all over one lost sinner brought to faith! That’s how precious a single soul is to our Lord. That’s how precious you and I are to our Lord. Our unchurched friends, our neighbors, our classmates, our school children and their parents.

We are seeking the treasures of lost souls. We are treasure seekers because Jesus sought and found us. We are a treasure to him! We can hang our heads in shame because of the many ways we have disappointed God, wandered away from him and gotten lost. God has every right to reject us forever and discard us to the torments of hell. Yet look at the heart of our God! How true the verse is for him, "Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."

Listen closely to just how treasured we are: "For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. ¹⁴ I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made." (Ps 139:13-14) God crafted us from the beginning with the skill that makes us beautiful in his sight. "Our Lord Jesus Christ, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich." (2 Cor 8:9) God treasured us so much that he stepped into our sinful predicament to rescue us from sure damnation. "But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us." (Rom 5:8) Jesus demonstrated his love by his death on the cross even though we were far from deserving of it.

"Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her ²⁶ to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, ²⁷ and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless." (Eph 5:25-27) Jesus didn’t end his concern at the cross but made sure the message of the gospel in Word and sacrament got to us. "I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents." (Luke 15:10) The angels of heaven are so attuned to how God treasures souls that there is a great party in heaven for everyone who repents and becomes connected with the blessings of the kingdom of God. How treasured we are in God’s sight!

We have some hard work ahead of us in our church and school. This hard work of seeking, educating, and saving lost souls is going to take time, effort, and money. But we are committed to it because we are Jesus’ treasured possessions.

A Christian lady once said to a friend, "Our church costs too much. They are always asking for money." Her friend replied, "Some time ago a little boy was born into our home. He cost me a lot of money from the beginning. He had a big appetite, he needed clothes, medicine, toys, and even a puppy. Then he went to school, and that cost a lot more. Later he went away to college and that cost a small fortune! But in his senior year at college he died, and since the funeral he has not cost me a penny. Now which situation do you think I would rather have?"

After a long pause she continued, "As long as this church lives it will cost. When it dies for lack of support, it will not cost us anything. A living church is reaching out to seek and to save the lost, therefore I am going to give and pray with everything I have to keep our church alive."

A shepherd. A woman. A sheep. A coin. With these simple building blocks, Jesus built two little parables that teach us what our Savior is all about. "Seeking and saving the lost." Brothers and sisters in Christ, that’s what we are to be about as well. That is our identity. It may cost. It may cost to reach out to seek and save the lost, but we are seeking the treasures of lost souls. The expense doesn’t even come close to the treasure. And so we will spare no effort, no time, and no cost – because lost souls are a treasure to us. Amen.