Sunday message · The Lost Parables of Jesus series
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Message Summary
In the second message on Jesus’ parables in Luke 15, Pastor Phillip Santillan turns to the lost coin in Luke 15:8–10, a picture of God searching carefully for the lost and celebrating generously. He repeats last week’s challenge that, by God’s grace, Clarity will do whatever it takes to become a church for whom God’s mission is not just a goal but a priority. Asking when the church last saw someone baptized through its outreach, he admits that as a whole it has a journey ahead.
The woman’s ten silver coins, each a drachma worth about a day’s wages, may have been family savings or part of a dowry headdress. Phil says we don’t know, but scholars agree this was all she had. Jesus raises the stakes from one sheep in a hundred to a tenth of everything, and describes her search: she lights a lamp, sweeps the house and searches carefully, a word of diligence and intention. The Pharisees found Jesus’ attention to sinners offensive, but like the woman, God had a careful plan to seek and save the lost, with Jesus as its steward. Phil asks what each of us, and the church as a whole, would say about our diligence in that mission.
When she finds the coin, she calls her friends and neighbors to celebrate. Some scholars find that perplexing, since a festive meal would likely cost more than she recovered. That, Phil says, is the point: God pours out the same lavish generosity over one repentant sinner. He recalls visiting his uncle’s firehouse as a boy. Firefighters train and live together not to protect their own homes but to rescue others, often people who do not know they need it. Likewise, the church’s training and life together prepare it to rescue people facing disaster.
Responding is personal. For some, Jesus’ words alone will lead to repentance for being more like the Pharisees than the shepherd or the woman. Others need to examine why they follow Jesus at all, like Simon in Acts 8, who was baptized but whose heart’s intent was wrong. It is also corporate, since many commands in Scripture can only be lived out in community. Phil wants a culture of rejoicing and generosity that pours lives and resources into seeking the lost and celebrates their stories. He even says professing believers who are not engaged in a local church are lost, citing Hebrews 10:25.
This reaches beyond Sunday gatherings to investing time and resources in relationships with people far from God, becoming all things to all people (1 Corinthians 9), and inviting others to see the church’s love for one another (John 13:35). Phil is not sure the community would notice if Clarity disappeared, and he wants to change that. Being shrewd as serpents and innocent as doves (Matthew 10:16) means using the web and social media for the gospel while forgoing yard signs, which require the city’s permission. He closes by asking everyone to write down one step of obedience and pray for courage during the final song.
