Luke 10:1-21

1 After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them two by two ahead of him to every town and place where he was about to go. 2 He told them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field. 3 Go! I am sending you out like lambs among wolves. 4 Do not take a purse or bag or sandals; and do not greet anyone on the road. 5 “When you enter a house, first say, ‘Peace to this house.’ 6 If someone who promotes peace is there, your peace will rest on them; if not, it will return to you. 7 Stay there, eating and drinking whatever they give you, for the worker deserves his wages. Do not move around from house to house. 8 “When you enter a town and are welcomed, eat what is offered to you. 9 Heal the sick who are there and tell them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.’ 10 But when you enter a town and are not welcomed, go into its streets and say, 11 ‘Even the dust of your town we wipe from our feet as a warning to you. Yet be sure of this: The kingdom of God has come near.’ 12 I tell you, it will be more bearable on that day for Sodom than for that town. 13 “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes. 14 But it will be more bearable for Tyre and Sidon at the judgment than for you. 15 And you, Capernaum, will you be lifted to the heavens? No, you will go down to Hades. 16 “Whoever listens to you listens to me; whoever rejects you rejects me; but whoever rejects me rejects him who sent me.” 17 The seventy-two returned with joy and said, “Lord, even the demons submit to us in your name.” 18 He replied, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. 19 I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you. 20 However, do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.” 21 At that time Jesus, full of joy through the Holy Spirit, said, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this is what you were pleased to do.

Do you want joy?  At first this may seem like a ridiculous question, of course you do and you are not alone. Look around the journey for joy is self-evident in our society, it’s what our world is seeking. The problem is that the world wants satisfying joy separate from Jesus. We are believing the lie that joy is linked to our search not the Savior. You see we don’t know how to find real joy and we don’t know how to keep it because we don’t understand where it comes from. In Luke 10 we are reminded that joy is found on our journey with Jesus because joy is joined to Jesus. Its not enough just to want joy you have to want to journey with Jesus. As long as we keep looking for joy separate from Jesus we will only find the junk. As Jesus sends His disciples out on the journey we get to see where we discover joy and where we discover the dead ends. There are a lot of wrong places to look for joy, places that just don’t produce. Today many are stumbling blindly down back alleys, rummaging through the rubbish for a remnant of joy. The sad truth is that we have become satisfied with the trash instead of searching for the treasure. Luke tells us that one day Jesus starting getting His students ready to do something special. They were supposed to go out, in twos, into the nearby towns and cities, and announce the good news of the kingdom. They were in essence told to go out and announce joy, but Jesus knew that just announcing good news doesn’t necessarily produce good news. This often overlooked truth flies in the face of our modern forward thinking society.  We want to believe that we can just name it and claim it. It’s like Bobby McFerrin’s catchy but silly song “Don’t worry, be happy” it all the way to number one on the billboard hot 100, because we like the idea that if you proclaim it you can claim it. This is the belief that we can create joy through words and wishful thinking. But Jesus reminds us that just proclaiming joy doesn’t always produce joy. Next we have the dead end street of stuff. Our society tells us there is lasting satisfaction in stuff, but Jesus told His disciples not to lean on the luxuries. They did not take all the usual stuff that society tells us we need to be happy. There was no money, or motel reservations, no extra clothes or special comforts. Instead Jesus said “See, I am sending you out like lambs into the midst of wolves” This was not going to be a journey of easy in fact the exact opposite was true, instead of personal pleasure there would be pain. Joy doesn’t come from the junk we take with us on the journey, in fact the search for satisfaction in stuff will actually saturate you in sorrow. Today we have a culture built on comfort yet constantly crying. We have more money but are more miserable, more stuff but somehow still sad. Jesus says that we don’t get joy out of creature comforts or status symbols, its society that wants to sell you on the stuff. Today we have bought into the lie that life in the lazy boy is blessed, but stuff will never satisfy. Next in verse 10-11 Jesus confronts the dark dead end alley of approval, “But when you enter a town and are not welcomed, go into its streets and say, even the dust of your town we wipe from our feet as a warning to you.” Here Jesus reminds us that the source of joy is not found in society’s affirmation and approval. That if you have a need to be needed, you are going to be disappointed, the applause of men is a dead end alley because joy is not found in approval ratings. By the way applause doesn’t just ruined politicians it also poisons pastors because it distracts and leaves them both disillusioned. Now Jesus turns to topple the sacred steeple of secular and spiritual success. The street of success has not only become our firm foundation it has become our faith. Today success has become more than just what we work for it’s also what we worship. Success has become both the justification for our journey and the joy that we seek. Yet Jesus said, “Remain in the same house, eating and drinking whatever they provide … whenever you enter a town and its people welcome you, eat what is set before you; cure the sick who are there, and say to them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you” Joy doesn’t come from your profession, a pay increase or a promotion.  You don’t derive joy from accomplishing your job or being rewarded or recognized. Jesus makes no mention of a pension plan, a pat on the back, or an expense account. The street of success is really a slippery slope, not only is its steep financially but its shallow for your family. Success just like all the others toll roads we travel costs but never cash’s in. You see there is a joy that only Jesus offers and it’s not found in wishful words, creature comforts, approval ratings or even job success. It involves something surprisingly simple and yet powerfully profound, but until you are willing to recognize and reject the lies you will always be on the wrong road. Before we journey on together to discover the true source of joy we need to take an inventory of the lies in our life. What dead end allies have you been driving?  Have you been driving down the one way road of wishful but worthless words? Cruising on the highway of comfort, or trying to navigate the tight back alleys of approval? Or have you been burning your gas trying to climb the steep street of success? How many more miles and how much more misery are you willing to put on your motor?

Luke 15:8-10

8 “Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins and loses one. Won’t she light a lamp and sweep the entire house and search carefully until she finds it? 9 And when she finds it, she will call in her friends and neighbors and say, ‘Rejoice with me because I have found my lost coin.’ 10 In the same way, there is joy in the presence of God’s angels when even one sinner repents.”

After seeing how people can become lost in pleasure, pride and pain now Jesus reminds us of how we can become lost in our plans and:

• PRIORITIES

Jesus talked about a lost sheep that needed a shepherd, as well as lost sons who needed to be in fellowship with their Father. Now He talks about a lost coin that has value and needs to be put into circulation. It is here that Jesus once again voices our value. In the story of the shepherd the sheep was worth looking for at the expense of leaving everything else. In the story of the prodigal the son was worth waiting for and now in the story of the coin we are worth stopping everything to search for. So why was this coin worth so much to this woman? First it represented about a day’s wage, so it had financial value and purchasing power but it was more than just worldly worth. It had value from a sentimental standpoint as it could have been part of her wedding day attire. When a Jewish woman married she took ten silver coins and sewed them into a headdress, which she wore on her wedding day to signify that she was married and belonged to her husband. Our modern day equivalent would be a woman’s wedding band studded with diamonds. Wedding bands have financial worth but their greater worth is found in the relational connection they represent. Just like the woman in Jesus story my wife once lost one of the diamonds in her wedding ring. She lost it the week we were packing to move from Arkansas to Nebraska. My wife had the same response as tis woman, she looked everywhere and even vacuumed the house and packed the bags of dust into the U-Haul to search through later. Have you ever lost anything of great worth to you? For others it may just represent stuff but to you its significant. For me the sentimental significance is found in pictures of my children that hang throughout my house. They are worth only a few cents in terms of their physical value, but priceless to me because of who and what they represent. They preserve precious memories, significant stages of life at which my children will never be at again. The paper and frame are only worth a few cents, but the image is priceless, because its about a person not a picture. Yet this is not only about something of great financial and emotional value that was lost but also where it was lost. The story of the lost sheep tells us that the sheep had wandered away from the safety of home, the fold, and that the son willingly walked away from home. Yet here we have a coin that is lost at home, it didn’t willingly or carelessly wander off it was carelessly misplaced. It may have seemed to be in a place of protection and apparent safety, nevertheless it became lost. Jesus had been bringing people of all lifestyles back to God, the poor and the prostitutes, the immoral and the ill, the dispossessed and demon-possessed, the wealthy as well as the weary. The marginalized and the misunderstood were finding freedom and forgiveness. The bruised and abused were finding peace and a place at God’s banquet table. Yet the religious establishment did not rejoice this repentance, instead they griped at God. They complained at the change because the focus had shifted from self to the Savior. Here were sheep that had never left the fold, but their heart was far from the shepherd. They were like a lost coin, still at home, but nevertheless lost and out of spiritual circulation. Which forces us to face the question, “do I have something lost at home, something significant that is out of spiritual circulation?” What if I have misplaced what really matters, and taken God’s gifts for granted. You see God doesn’t really care about coins but He does care about children. What if like the coin there is someone lost in your home through inattentiveness or neglect? Are those who we see as safe in our homes secure in heaven? In this trilogy of parables being lost means being in a place of danger and despair, away from God’s peace and protection. It means spending life where you’re not supposed to be. It’s the tragedy of trading a meaningful life for a miserable one. Instead of being and belonging there is only emptiness and longing. Lost means living with no valid point of reference outside of self. Lost is waking up to learn that your child didn’t walk out or wonder away they were never in. It’s the realization that what we value might not be a mess but they are missing. It’s the tears over our true treasures because we got caught up in our cares instead of our children. We were caught up in the trivial when they needed our time, we were busy when they needed the bible. We were caught up in our plans when they needed prayer. We showed them selfishness when they should have seen the Savior.  We left them alone when they needed love. We never made learning about their personalities our priority. We slighted what was significant for a million reasons only to discover that we misplaced our most cherished coin, our children. We were like Martha who became absorbed in the unimportant, and so consumed by the insignificant that she insulted all who didn’t join her. We don’t have to be sheep in the wilderness, or a son in sin city to be lost. We can become lost in our homes, fussing over the perfect table setting and missing the Savior? Maybe Jesus is saying it’s time to let the dishes soak in the sink so we can soak in Him. How many of us are lost in our busy routines and sacred schedules, caught up in the temporary and the trivial? So preoccupied with our plans that we lose sight of what we  have lost. Why do we put our effort into the empty, because we have forgotten our true treasures, it’s not the coins that we cherish but our children. It’s time to cultivate what we say we cherish. When this woman realized what was lost she stopped everything to search.  She lit a lamp to illuminate the darkened corners where the coin may have fallen. She swept the house clearing out the straw that would have covered her floor. She made the search her priority, taking time for her true treasure. She gave herself to the task, she didn’t just look around a little in her spare time, she stopped everything to search. Foot by foot she went over the floor searching for what mattered most. To reach the lost at home, we need to light the lamp of God’s Word by living according to His Will. We must sweep our homes and empty out the straw that litters our floor. This is the stuff and the fluff that gives the enemy a foothold over our families. As a parent my children are my priority not the youth pastors, I need to take time to learn and to love them not leave them to others. Today we put more effort and energy into looking for our keys than we do our kids. As parents we hold back instead of holding on. Our children fall through the cracks because our priorities revolve around our plans not God’s. We need to hug more and hurry less, we need less lists and more love, we need more listening and less lessons. We need to make prayer our priority and pursue God’s plans. Did my wife ever find her diamond? Yes she did, it was in the most unlikely place, our son’s car seat which she discovered half way to Nebraska. Our baby boy was sitting on a diamond but what and where was our real treasure? Well diamonds don’t go to heaven, they might be lovely to look at but they have no life. So love what really lasts, expend your energy on the eternal not the earthly.