The Joy of Restoration; Luke 15:1-10

Delivered during the Sunday Morning Worship Service, 5/19/24. The great themes of Luke's Gospel continue to ebb and flow as the mission and purpose of Jesus' Cosmic Initiative comes back into focus. Noticing the grumbling of the religious elite over His ministry to the "riffraff" they ignored and disdained, Jesus tells two delightful parables that highlight the reason He came and how important the lost elect are to Him-- whoever and wherever they may be. We will analyze these parables carefully, finding in them essential principles for the church. In the first one, a shepherd who loses one of his sheep, risks his entire flock to find it. The emphasis is on the sovereignty of the seeker, the importance of the one, and the joy to be found in its restoration. The second parable, of a woman who loses a coin and searches diligently until she finds it, will emphasize and strengthen these principles. Jesus has come to seek and save the lost and will continue to search for them, whether during His earthly ministry or through His church that will follow, until the last one is found and brought into the fold. Ultimately we will see where the emphasis of both these parables lies-- not just in the search and rescue of the lost, but in their joyful restoration to the very image of their Master.