Lost But Still Valuable

This powerful message takes us deep into Luke 15, exploring the parable of the lost coin with fresh eyes and urgent relevance. We're challenged to see the lost not as statistics or inconveniences, but as treasures God refuses to abandon. The widow who loses one of her ten silver coins becomes our model for purposeful pursuit of the disconnected. She doesn't passively hope the coin will turn up—she lights a lamp for visibility, sweeps the floor thoroughly, and searches carefully until she finds what was lost. This three-fold action reveals something profound about our calling: we are the light in dark places, we must be willing to get our hands dirty sweeping through the mess, and we must search with intentional thoroughness. The coin couldn't see itself or find its way back, but the woman could see and wouldn't rest until it was found. Similarly, those lost around us—in our homes, workplaces, and communities—need us to be the light that makes their way back visible. The message confronts us with an uncomfortable truth: whatever kind of church we want to be is exactly what we're already doing. If we want something different, we must do something different. Are we a church that smells like sheep because we're actually among them, or have we isolated ourselves from the very people Jesus came to seek and save?