This week, we’re continuing our message series as we go through the parables of Jesus and learn from Him how to truly live life to its fullest.

A parable is a simple story that illustrates a moral or spiritual lesson. Jesus said that He intentionally taught using parables so that the secrets of His Kingdom would only be understood by those seeking after this revelation.

This week, we’re learning from three different parables all used to teach the same lesson. This lesson is the importance of: The One.

Luke 15

1 Now the tax collectors and sinners were all gathering around to hear Jesus. 2 But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.”

Here we find the backdrop for these three parables that set the context for what they are all about.

Nothing reveals a toxic religious attitude faster than God doing the unexpected. Jesus, God in the flesh, welcoming and entertaining sinners didn’t fit inside of the God-box that the religious people had created.

To this very day, muttering still happens when God is moving in unexpected ways. We must watch ourselves in this area! Just because something doesn’t happen how we think it should or when we think it should or with the people that we think it should doesn’t mean that it is not God at work.

As we’re soon going to learn, God’s heart longs to reach the lost. Sure, He loves and rejoices over those who have already put their faith in Him. However, His focus and emphasis is on reaching those who haven’t yet. It is His compassion that is poured out on them and it is His anger that is poured out on those with the religious attitude offended by the one who hangs out with the lost.

To those people, Jesus tried to teach and explain this reality about God by using parables.

3 Then Jesus told them this parable: 4 “Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Doesn’t he 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. Doesn’t she 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.”

These first two parables about the one focus on us. Unlike other parables, Jesus was very clear and literal about the interpretation and meaning of these parables. He clearly identified what each element represented. We are the shepherd and woman. The lost sheep and coin are sinners who need to repent. The friends and neighbors are other believers. The rejoicing in Heaven is exactly that.

Think about how you feel when you have lost something of importance. Think of the urgency and panic that fills your life. Nothing else matters. You frantically go looking for it and don’t rest until it is found. Your mind is consumed by where that item could be and how to find it. You pray and pray for God to show you where it is. You retrace your steps and try to figure out where you lost it. It is the most important thing to you. Then, when it is found, that panic is replaced with an equally fervent sense of rejoicing. You literally jump and dance and praise when that item is finally found.

Are our lives filled with this same sense of urgency toward those who don’t know Jesus? When we come to church, do we pray and pray for those people? While we’re going about our days, are our thoughts filled with how to reach those around us? Do we think of their needs and what we c