The Vision of Church in the Boro:

Pursing the Simplicity of the Gospel

Selected Passages from Luke
Sunday Morning
October 4, 2009
Church in the Boro
Rob Wilkerson

Introduction
Sometimes...no...much of the time, it seems that we as human beings have a
wired knack for making things more complicated than they need to be.

When I read the New Testament afresh, especially the gospels, and
especially the gospel of Luke, things tend to become much more simple to
me. I love reading the apostle Paul. He's a deep, deep thinker about the
things of Christ. But he's also difficult sometimes. He's a deep fellow. But
Luke seems to be a simple fellow. Luke, you'll remember, was a physician
who travelled with the apostle Paul during a couple of his missionary
journeys. They knew each other very well, evidently. And the point I want to
make here is that for Paul the gospel, while simple, was very deep. But for
Luke, the simple gospel was...well...simple. When I want to go deep in
Christ, I read Paul. When I want to come up for some fresh air, I ascend the
ocean of Christ's love for me, come to the surface, get in my seaplane, and
ascend into the clouds to get the big picture of Jesus Christ and His work for
me. That's what Luke allows me to do.

We Tend to Make the Gospel and Evangelism Too Complex

I remember about 20 years or so ago, I had just graduated high school and I
had entered into Evangelism Explosion to learn the method and be a trainer.
I had to go through a twelve week course, if I remember correctly. Now, I'm
a geek by nature, so I enjoy the detail of things, especially things
theological. I am one of those who definitely tends to make things more
complicated than they need to be. And I enjoyed the 12 week class that was
designed to teach me how to understand and share the gospel with the lost,
then train others to do the same. The problem is, I fear it created a "system"
of sorts around the gospel, making it more complex than it really needed to
be. In my estimation, when God saves you, you are immediately ready to
evangelize other lost people.
The Vision of our Church: Pursuing the Simplicity of the Gospel October 4, 2009

Take the woman at the well in John 4, for example. She sat by the well
talking to Jesus, then left the well a redeemed woman, and immediately went
down into her hometown and told everybody about Jesus and then led them
all back to Him. And how about the 72 disciples Jesus sent out to preach?
They had only just been following Jesus for a short time, yet He turns around
and sends them out to preach the gospel! My favorite is about Saul who,
before he changed his name to Paul, got knocked off his horse, was carried
back to Ananias' house, then according to Acts 9:19-20, "stayed with the
believers in Damascus for a few days. And immediately he began preaching
about Jesus in the synagogues, saying, 'He is indeed the Son of God!'" Paul's
own model became the example the Thessalonian church followed. For as
we read there in chapter 1 of 1 Thessalonians, they "received the message
with joy from the Holy Spirit," and as a result, they "became an example to
all the Christians in Greece," so that "the word of the Lord is ringing out from
you top eple everywhere, even beyond Greece, for wherever we go, we find
people telling us about your faith in God" (vv. 6-8).

Why did these people go from sinners to evangelists so quickly? In short,

because it's all so very simple. As the blind man in John 9 said, "But I know
this: I was blind, and now I can see!" (v. 25). One moment, they are going
their own way, living their own lives, pursuing their own selfish desires. And
in the very next moment they are going Christ's way, living His life, pursuing
His desires. It's that simple. They were lost and then they were found.

It's the simplicity of what happened that produces such a simple response to
what happened. The simple reason why these people and many others since
then have turned immediately from sinner to evangelist is because, simply
put, they were forgiven of their sins. And when they were forgiven, their sins
were washed away, done away with, never to be remembered again, and
they were changed, transformed in an instant, a brand new creature, a new
person. Their minds and hearts, cleansed from sin through forgiveness, were
able to function as they were created to in the first place: to go out and seek
people to worship God. Forgiveness transformed the operating system of
their heart, if you will. They went from an operating system rife with viruses
and malicious software that had been hacked and hijacked, to a new
installation of an upgrade forever more free from all the crapware.

At Church in the Boro this is what we are pursuing: the simplicity of the
gospel. We believe Jesus kept the message of good news pretty simple. And
we also believe that because it is simple, the devil and his idiots are working
night and day to junk it up and make it more complex than it needs to be.
You see the devil knows that the more complex he can make the gospel in
our finite little brains, the less likely we are to relish it and share it with
others. He knows if he can add all sorts of other theological assumptions,
presuppositions, distinctions, and implications to it that he'll accomplish two
things.

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The Two Things the Devil Hopes to Accomplish by Making the

Gospel Too Complex

First, we'll begin to be distracted with all that other stuff instead of the core
of the good news, which is forgiveness of sins. He knows that in focusing on
it too much we'll begin to talk about them more rather than tell more
people. He knows that he can get us sidetracked with things that are
important to know, but things that we let become more important than
telling others about the simple good news.

Second, the devil knows that we will feel like we have to add all that stuff
into it the simple gospel when we share it with others. He's so smart! He
knows that when we are sharing all that other stuff with the good news that
it actually turns into confusing news to the one who's listening. And so we
fall short of accomplishing our mission: to seek and save the lost. He knows
that many of us will fail to retain the simplicity of the gospel in our hearts,
and that we will fail to retain the simplicity of the gospel in our evangelism to
others. He knows we'll make it convoluted to a lost person who simply needs
to hear the simple message of simple forgiveness of sins.

This is the course I desire us to chart, the direction I desire us to head, the
vision I desire us to pursue. The assumptions, presuppositions, distinctions,
and implications are all absolutely important. But they are like any other
kind of knowledge in that they come progressively through a process. Too
often I've tried to add all that other stuff to the simple message of the simple
gospel to a simple sinner. All I ended up doing was confusing it, making it
more difficult for a sinner to understand the gospel than for an SUV to drive
through a keyhole. It was like explaining calculus to a 3rd grader. They're
not ready for it! That's why Paul prayed for the Ephesians that they "might
grow in your knowledge of God" (1:17). Growth implies process and
progress. It never implies getting a bunch of really important stuff all at
once. He prayed for them, "that you will begin to understand the incredible
greatness of his power for us who believe him" (v. 19). Growth in the
knowledge of God has a beginning, which again implies progress and
process. So the greatness of God in the gospel of Jesus Christ must begin
with simplicity. And that's just what Paul himself does for the Ephesians in
chapter 1 when he writes, "He is so rich kindness that he purchased our
freedom through the blood of his Son, and our sins are forgiven" (v. 7).

So for the remainder of our time this morning I want to turn your attention
back to Luke again, to see the simplicity of the gospel in the forgiveness of
sins. And then we'll apply that to our pursuit of a biblical vision for the
simplicity of the gospel. What I want to in this effort is to first give you a sort
of survey of Luke's narratives about Jesus when it comes to the simplicity of
Jesus' message. And then I want to apply that simplicity to one particular

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story in Luke to help you get your arms around what that simplicity looks
like, because it does have a shape. It's not like the simple life forms you
learned about in biology, where there's this shapeless amoeba floating
around in goo. It it simple, but it has a definite shape and form and we'll look
at that.

I. A Survey of the Simple Gospel of Forgiveness of Sins

in Luke

A. Jesus alone has the authority to forgive (Luke 5:17-25).

Early on in Jesus' ministry He gets in trouble for healing a man who was
paralyzed.

17 One day while Jesus was teaching, some Pharisees and teachers of
religious law were sitting nearby. (It seemed that these men showed up from
every village in all Galilee and Judea, as well as from Jerusalem.) And the
Lord's healing power was strongly with Jesus. 18 Some men came carrying
a paralyzed man on a sleeping mat. They tried to take him inside to Jesus,
19 but they couldn't reach him because of the crowd. So they went up to the
roof and took off some tiles. Then they lowered the sick man on his mat
down into the crowd, right in front of Jesus. 20 Seeing their faith, Jesus said
to the man, "Young man, your sins are forgiven." 21 But the Pharisees and
teachers of religious law said to themselves, "Who does he think he is?
That's blasphemy! Only God can forgive sins!" 22 Jesus knew what they
were thinking, so he asked them, "Why do you question this in your hearts?
23 Is it easier to say 'Your sins are forgiven,' or 'Stand up and walk'? 24 So I
will prove to you that the Son of Man* has the authority on earth to forgive
sins." Then Jesus turned to the paralyzed man and said, "Stand up, pick up
your mat, and go home!" 25 And immediately, as everyone watched, the
man jumped up, picked up his mat, and went home praising God.
26 Everyone was gripped with great wonder and awe, and they praised God,
exclaiming, "We have seen amazing things today!"
Notice first in this passage that forgiveness of sins is connected with faith.
Faith believes that Jesus can and will do what He came to do, what He said
He would do. These friends had heard about the works of Jesus, and had
perhaps seen Him do miraculous things before, and acted on what they
heard and saw by bringing their sick friend to Him. So right off the bat I want
you to see the simplicity of gospel through the simplicity of faith. Faith is
simple. It believes in a simple truth. It simply acts on that simple truth. And
simple faith is the doorway to receiving the simplicity of the good news,
which is the forgiveness of sins. "Seeing their faith, Jesus said to the man,
'Young man, your sins are forgiven.'" Don't miss the fact that these men
came all the way from who knows where to get their friend some help, and
Jesus chooses instead to focus on the forgiveness of sins. That's what the

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young man needed more than he needed to walk. He needed to have his
soul healed far more than he needed to have his body healed.

Notice second in the passage that Luke decides to emphasize the portion of
the conversation centering on the ability and authority of Jesus Christ to
forgive sins. He has the authority to forgive sins because "only God can
forgive sins!" as the Pharisees themselves acknowledged. And then Jesus
displays His authority to forgive sins through His ability to remove the
effects of sin, by healing the man. "So I will prove to you that the Son of
Man has the authority to forgive sins." This ability is simply mercy and
grace. Jesus is the kindest person I've ever met. He's the kindest person
you'll ever met. And He demonstrates that kindness in His ability to heal,
based on His authority to forgive.

B. Jesus tells us that His forgiveness of sins is the simplest

foundation for our worship (Luke 7:36-50).

If we turn to the story of the prostitute who encountered Jesus in Luke 7:36-
50, we see a similar scenario unfolded by Luke, but this time with some
other features added.

36 One of the Pharisees asked Jesus to have dinner with him, so Jesus went
to his home and sat down to eat.* 37 When a certain immoral woman from
that city heard he was eating there, she brought a beautiful alabaster jar
filled with expensive perfume. 38 Then she knelt behind him at his feet,
weeping. Her tears fell on his feet, and she wiped them off with her hair.
Then she kept kissing his feet and putting perfume on them. 39 When the
Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, "If this man were
a prophet, he would know what kind of woman is touching him. She's a
sinner!" 40 Then Jesus answered his thoughts. "Simon," he said to the
Pharisee, "I have something to say to you." "Go ahead, Teacher," Simon
replied. 41 Then Jesus told him this story: "A man loaned money to two
people—500 pieces of silver* to one and 50 pieces to the other.4 2 But
neither of them could repay him, so he kindly forgave them both, canceling
their debts. Who do you suppose loved him more after that?" 43 Simon
answered, "I suppose the one for whom he canceled the larger
debt." "That's right," Jesus said. 44 Then he turned to the woman and said
to Simon, "Look at this woman kneeling here. When I entered your home,
you didn't offer me water to wash the dust from my feet, but she has washed
them with her tears and wiped them with her hair. 45 You didn't greet me
with a kiss, but from the time I first came in, she has not stopped kissing my
feet. 46 You neglected the courtesy of olive oil to anoint my head, but she
has anointed my feet with rare perfume. 47 "I tell you, her sins—and they
are many—have been forgiven, so she has shown me much love. But a
person who is forgiven little shows only little love." 48 Then Jesus said to
the woman, "Your sins are forgiven." 49 The men at the table said among

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themselves, "Who is this man, that he goes around forgiving sins?" 50 And
Jesus said to the woman, "Your faith has saved you; go in peace."

There's so much I'd love to camp out on in this text! It's an incredible story
chock full of so much helpful stuff when it comes to forgiveness. But notice
again the argument here over Jesus' authority to forgive sins. In the first
story about the paralyzed man, He demonstrates His authority in healing. In
this second story Jesus demonstrates His authority to heal in a story. And
the point of the story was made simple by Jesus: the person who knows how
great a debt they owe to God loves Jesus more. As Jesus explained, "I tell
you, her sins - and they are many - have been forgiven, so she has shown
me much love. But a person who is forgiven little, shows only little love."

The simplest foundation for loving Jesus and worshiping Him, like this
prostitute did, is the forgiveness of sins. Jesus explains that the fact that she
was worshiping Him the way she was was evidence that her sins were
already forgiven. And your degree of love toward Jesus and your depth of
worship to God will be built upon the simple foundation of forgiveness of
sins. The thicker that foundation, meaning the deeper you become aware of
your unworthiness, the wider your love will be built, and the higher your
worship will be built. Forgiveness of sins is the engine with which you love
King Jesus. How big is your engine? Do you have a motorcyle engine? Or do
you have a freight train engine?

C. Jesus taught us that forgiveness of sins is the simplest

foundation for our prayer life (Luke 11:1-4).

The next passage I want you to turn to is one you're all familiar with. But
Luke gives it to us in a shorter more concise form. It's found in Luke 11:1-4.

1 Once Jesus was in a certain place praying. As he finished, one of his

disciples came to him and said, "Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught
his disciples." 2 Jesus said, "This is how you should pray: "Father, may your
name be kept holy. May your Kingdom come soon. 3 Give us each day the
food we need, 4 and forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against
us. And don't let us yield to temptation."
If the forgiveness of sins was the prostitute's simplest foundation for worship,
it is the simplest foundation for the prayer life of a disciple. Notice how
simple that prayer life gets. It's about asking that we keep God's name holy,
that God would bring His kingdom to earth, that He'd feed us, forgive us, and
not let us fall to temptation. Yet how complex and difficult do we make our
prayer life?! We make things so hard, don't we?

Two things must be noted here. First, Jesus doesn't teach you to ask for
forgiveness everyday because asking Him for forgiveness everyday must be
done in order to be saved. That would make our salvation and our

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relationship with Him based on merit. Jesus is not some priest sitting in a
confessional to whom we must go in order to actually be forgiven of our
sins. If Luke's story of the prostitute worshiping Jesus showed us anything it
was that her sins were already forgiven as was evidenced in her worship. In
the same way then, asking for forgiveness of the sins we commit daily is
evidence that we recognize the absolute necessity of God's forgiveness, and
the truth that we have alredy received forgiveness. If anything, the
simplicity of this kind of prayer life is simply about a recognition that we live
every breath under the need of and protection in God's forgiveness of our
sins.

D. Jesus commanded us that forgiveness of sins is the

simplest foundation for our life mission (Luke 24:47)

The final passage I want you to look at in this short survey is the last chapter
of Luke where Jesus is talking to His disicples before He ascends to heaven.

46 And he said, "Yes, it was written long ago that the Messiah would suffer
and die and rise from the dead on the third day. 47 It was also written that
this message would be proclaimed in the authority of his name to all the
nations,* beginning in Jerusalem: 'There is forgiveness of sins for all who
repent.' 48 You are witnesses of all these things. 49 "And now I will send
the Holy Spirit, just as my Father promised. But stay here in the city until the
Holy Spirit comes and fills you with power from heaven."

Notice the simplicity of the message Jesus wants "proclaimed in the authority
of his name to all the nations": "there is forgiveness of sins for all who
repent." That's what Jesus wants you to take to the world, friends. That's
what Jesus wants us to pursue here at Church in the Boro. It assumes the
presence and power of sin. Do you see anywhere in the passage where
Jesus wants us to try to convince the nations they are sinners? No! They
know they are, and we are simply to preach about how it is removed:
through the forgiveness of God in Jesus Christ.

The simplicity of the message also is the foundation for the power of the
Spirit's work in and through the local church. The promised Holy Spirit was
coming, but His power would be based on the authority of King Jesus to
forgive sins, which meant the effectiveness of the local church would be
based entirely and completely on its faithfulness to the simplicity of that
message. In other words, I don't think it's far fetched to wonder if the lack of
the Spirit's power in the local church and the lack of a local church's
effectiveness in world missions is due to its lack of pursuing a vision of a
simple gospel in the forgiveness of sins. Wherever there's a complex and
difficult message, I'll bet you there's no Holy Spirit power. His power ungirds
the simple gospel message of forgiveness of sins. In fact, I'd go so far as to

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say that the power is in the simplicity. Simplicity means purity, undiluted,
unclouded, unmuddied, unadulterated.

Now, with the understanding that the simple message of forgiveness of sins
is the foundation for our worship, our prayer life, and our life mission, what
exactly is the shape of this simple message? What does forgiveness of sins
look like? We know what it means? It means to cleanse or take away sin.
But what does it look like biblically? How is forgiveness enacted, put into
effect, played out, etc.?

II. The Shape of the Simplicity of the Gospel (Luke 15)

There are several key features in Luke 15 which seem to provide a model or
shape to the simple gospel. This is no doubt THE key text on the mission of
Jesus Christ. And I love the way Luke introduces this chapter.

1 Tax collectors and other notorious sinners often came to listen to Jesus
teach. 2 This made the Pharisees and teachers of religious law complain
that he was associating with such despicable people—even eating with
them! 3 So Jesus told them this story..."

Immediately, Luke begins this chapter by introducing us to basically the town

mafia. You'll remember what I taught you last week about tax collectors,
also called the publicani. And Luke adds to them a group called "notorious
sinners," which means famous outcasts. And Luke even adds the adjective
"despicable" to describe them. This was a gang of really nasty people,
publicly, socially, spiritually, religiously. Back in chapter 5 of Luke, in verses
29-30, we read of the apostle Matthew, who before was a tax collector. He
threw a party at his house and invited his colleagues in crime. And there
Luke includes the Pharisee's description of those folks as "scum"!

I want you to notice two things that come to mind here as we look at Luke's
introduction to this chapter.

First, notice that the simplicity of the gospel of forgiveness is based on the
simple condition of mankind: they are all sinners, all of them notorious to
God. All of them are despicable scum. This includes the Pharisees and
religous leaders of the day. But the difference, as we found out last week in
the story of the Publican and the Pharisee, is that the tax collectors knew
they were sinners. They didn't put on any false pretenses about who they
were. They knew they were bad folks, outcasts of society, and they didn't
pretend to be all religious and pious like the Pharisees.

Second, notice that Luke makes a special point in his gospel to let us know
that Jesus purposefully hung out with these kinds of people. In Luke 5:31-32,

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right after the story about the party Matthew threw at his house, Jesus
makes the statement,
"Healthy people don't need a doctor - sick people do. I have come to call
sinners to turn from their sins, not to spend time with those who think they
are already good enough."
This is such a key statement for us as a local church. Too often, I'm afraid,
I've spent my time attempting to evangelize those who think they are
already good enough, instead of those who know they are scum. These
people were Jesus' targets, and they are to be ours as well as a local church.
The primary reason is that the simple gospel of forgiveness of sins is best
understood by those who know their sins are many, like the prostitute we
read about earlier. Those who know they are sinners, know how much
they've been forgiven of, and as a result love Jesus much more than those
who don't really know how much they've been forgiven of. In other words,
the church of Jesus Christ is made up of those who really love King Jesus as
He ought to be loved, because these kinds of people know what ought to
have happened to them, and they feel it in a way other self-righteous people
do not. The church of Jesus Christ stands to be a brighter light to the nations
when we pursue the kinds of people Jesus pursued with the kind of simple
gospel message Jesus preached to them.

Now this brings me to an outline of sorts that I think will be helpful in

structuring our understanding of the simplicity of the gospel in the message
of forgiveness of sins. Let's read through the remainder of Luke 15 and then
I'll unfold that structure.

Parable of the Lost Sheep

4 "If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them gets lost, what will he do?
Won't he leave the ninety-nine others in the wilderness and go to search for
the one that is lost until he finds it? 5 And when he has found it, he will
joyfully carry it home on his shoulders. 6 When he arrives, he will call
together his friends and neighbors, saying, 'Rejoice with me because I have
found my lost sheep.'7 In the same way, there is more joy in heaven over
one lost sinner who repents and returns to God than over ninety-nine others
who are righteous and haven't strayed away!

Parable of the Lost Coin

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."

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Parable of the Lost Son

11 To illustrate the point further, Jesus told them this story: "A man had two
sons. 12 The younger son told his father, 'I want my share of your estate
now before you die.' So his father agreed to divide his wealth between his
sons. 13 "A few days later this younger son packed all his belongings and
moved to a distant land, and there he wasted all his money in wild living.
14 About the time his money ran out, a great famine swept over the land,
and he began to starve. 15 He persuaded a local farmer to hire him, and the
man sent him into his fields to feed the pigs. 16 The young man became so
hungry that even the pods he was feeding the pigs looked good to him. But
no one gave him anything. 17 "When he finally came to his senses, he said
to himself, 'At home even the hired servants have food enough to spare, and
here I am dying of hunger! 18 I will go home to my father and say, "Father, I
have sinned against both heaven and you, 19 and I am no longer worthy of
being called your son. Please take me on as a hired servant."' 20 "So he
returned home to his father. And while he was still a long way off, his father
saw him coming. Filled with love and compassion, he ran to his son,
embraced him, and kissed him. 21 His son said to him, 'Father, I have
sinned against both heaven and you, and I am no longer worthy of being
called your son.' 22 "But his father said to the servants, 'Quick! Bring the
finest robe in the house and put it on him. Get a ring for his finger and
sandals for his feet. 23 And kill the calf we have been fattening. We must
celebrate with a feast, 24 for this son of mine was dead and has now
returned to life. He was lost, but now he is found.' So the party
began. 25 "Meanwhile, the older son was in the fields working. When he
returned home, he heard music and dancing in the house, 26 and he asked
one of the servants what was going on. 27 'Your brother is back,' he was
told, 'and your father has killed the fattened calf. We are celebrating because
of his safe return.' 28 "The older brother was angry and wouldn't go in. His
father came out and begged him, 29 but he replied, 'All these years I've
slaved for you and never once refused to do a single thing you told me to.
And in all that time you never gave me even one young goat for a feast with
my friends. 30 Yet when this son of yours comes back after squandering
your money on prostitutes, you celebrate by killing the fattened
calf!' 31 "His father said to him, 'Look, dear son, you have always stayed by
me, and everything I have is yours. 32 We had to celebrate this happy day.
For your brother was dead and has come back to life! He was lost, but now
he is found!'"
In these three stories I see a structure to the simplicity of the gospel of
forgiveness of sins that looks like this:

a. Know You're Lost

b. See God's Search
c. Hear God Forgive
d. See God Rejoice

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Let's look briefly at each one so you get the gist of it.

Know You're Lost

A sheep was lost, a coin was lost, and a son was lost. Jesus told three stories
using three different items to illustrate the same truth to the self-righteous
because of their attitude towards other despicable, scum sinners. The
reason the gospel is simple and must be kept simple is because it's about a
simple problem, a simple condition. If you don't know Jesus then you're
wandering around, looking for the next opportunity in life that might really
make things happen for you...that next big break. And you believe it's going
to come from something the world has to offer you, usually in the form of
money, sex and/or power or control. That means you're lost. You don't know
where you should be going.

See God's Search

The beauty of all three stories is that despite the condition and situation of
each lost item, God is portrayed as the One who takes an interest in that
which was lost, and pursues it until He recovers it.

In the first story, God is the shepherd who recovers that one lost sheep. "If
you had one hundred sheep, and one of them strayed away and was lost in
the wilderness, wouldn't you leave the ninety-nine others to go and search
for the lost one until you found it?"

In the second story, God is the woman who recovers that one lost coin.
"Won't she light a lamp and look in every corner of the house and sweep
every nook and cranny until she finds it?"

And in the third story, God is the father who recovers his lost son. Except in
this story, interestingly, God is not portrayed as searching like He is in the
first two stories. And I think that is because it presents the other side of God
as the faithful and patient and omniscient and providential One who has
orchestrated the whole rebellion of the son so that he would come back
home to dad. In other words, God has planned out the events of this man's
life so that he will come back home. So God is sort of in the son's search, if
you will, for happiness, not finding it, of course, until he comes back home.

Hear God Forgive

Here is the simplicity of the gospel. We see it more in the third story than
we do in the first two, although there is a feature in the first story that shows
it to us in a very interesting way.

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In the story of the lost sheep we see God's forgiveness portrayed this way in
verse 5: "And then you would joyfully carry it home on your shoulders."
There's your God right there! There's His simple message of good news! He
pursues you until He finds you and then He joyfully carries you home on His
shoulders. He is not reluctant that He found you. He is not out of breath and
impatient when He finds you. He is not like the mother who loses their child
in the mall, feels terrified, then finds the child only to cry, hug, and spank all
at one time. He's JOYFUL! He doesn't spank or beat you all the way home.
He CARRIES you all the way home, on His shoulders, wrapped around his
neck where your face is close to His, where your ear is close to His mouth so
that you can hear the whispers of His love for you as He carries you home.

In the story of the lost coin we can see just a glimpse of God's forgiveness in
the way the woman views the coins. In the Greek the silver coin was actually
a drachma, which was a full-day's pay in that day and time. If you work for
$10 an hour right now and you work ten days at eight hours a day, and you
get paid daily, it would be like losing $80 of your $800. That's a tenth of
what you worked so hard to earn! You wouldn't think or respond, "well, it's
just $80. I can work another day and earn that back." NO! You worked hard
for that $80, that full day's wage, so you're going to look high and low until
you find it. And that's because that money, like YOU, dear friend, is
valuable, as verse 8 describes. You may be a notorious, despicable, scummy
sinner. But God also says YOU are valuable! And why are you valuable?
Because God forgives you. He has searched for you, found you, cleansed
you, made you pure again...forgiven you. You are precious in His sight
because you belong to Him.

This is portrayed the clearest in the story of the son who comes home
humbly acknowledging his stupidity and foolishness. He knows he's been an
idiot so he's just happy to come home and work as an employee on dad's
farm. But dad will have NONE of that! Jesus says, "But his father said to the
servants, 'Quick! Bring the finest robe in the house, and put it on him. Get a
ring for his finger, and sandals for his feet. And kill the calf we have been
fattening in the pen." THAT is a picture of forgiveness! Again, this is not
reluctant God sighing and huffing as He inches out a little mercy and grace
to you one little dose at a time, waiting to see if with each inch of it you
respond like you ought to before He gives you any more. NO! This is God
overwhelming you with ALL of His mercy and grace and blessing. THAT'S
forgiveness.

See God Rejoice

Finally, in all three stories this is my favorite part. God REJOICES! He is

portrayed as a happy God! Not some old scruffy, stiff man with a frown on

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His face and a cane he's holding waiting for the first opportunity to rap you
on the shins!

In the first story here's how Jesus portrays the Father., in verses 6-7: "When
you arrived, you would call together your friends and neighbors to rejoice
with you because your lost sheep was found. In the same way, heaven will
be happier over one sinner who returns to God than over ninety-nine thers
who are righteous and haven't strayed away!"

And in the second story Jesus describes the Father this way, in verses 9-10:
"And when she finds it, she will call in her friends and neighbors to rejoice
with her because she has found her lost coin. In the same way, there is joy
in the presence of God's angels when even one sinner repents."

And in the third story, Jesus portrays the Father this way, in verses 24 and
32: " 'For this son of mine was dead and has now returned to me. He was
lost, but now he is found.' So the party began...'We had to celebrate this
happy day. For your brother was dead and has come back to life! He was
lost, but now he is found!' "

People! God is a rejoicing God! God is a happy God! Heaven is a happy

place! The angels love to rejoice when sinners repent! This is a joyous
occasion! This is not just one huge universal sigh of relief that you finally
came to your senses and got right with God. NO! This is the universe
rejoicing that God has found you (when you should have been looking for
Him but weren't) and that you've repented and turned to Him!

Conclusion

And that's about as simple as the gospel message gets, friends! You're a
sinner. God searched for you and found you. God forgave you. And God
rejoices over recovering you.

So two questions in closing then, both of which are about how you keep the
gospel simple, both in your own mind and then in how you portray it to
others.

First, do you meditate on this everyday? I gave you an outline or structure

there so you'd have something to pray over and think through and rejoice in
every single day of your life. K.I.S.S. was a good acrostic my dad taught me
when I was younger: Keep It Simple Son! We often lose the joy of our
salvation because we lose the simplicity of our salvation. We learn all these
grand and glorious truths about salvation and the doctrines of grace and

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The Vision of our Church: Pursuing the Simplicity of the Gospel October 4, 2009

justification, reconciliation, sanctification, glorification, election, redemption,

and all these other "tions". But in spending too much time on these truths
the gospel goes from simple to being complex, and our minds wander,
thinking about things that are too difficult for us sometimes. And we get
confused, putting pieces together that probably don't go together. And in
our attempt to try to solve the theological puzzles of history we lose sight of
the simplicity of the very thing we're studying. We were lost but God found
us! We were sinners and God forgave us!

Second, if you meditate on this everyday, I guarantee you that you'll

experience a more simplistic approach to evangelism here at Church in the
Boro. You'll probably find yourself hanging out with a different kind of
sinner...those who know they're sinners, and not those who are self-
righteous...those who know they're sick, and not those who think they are
well. And when you do find yourself hanging out with prostitutes, notorious
sinners, scumbags, and prodigal sons, you will also find yourself
communicating to them a simple message: You're lost, God is searching for
you and He's found you because I'm here talking to you now, and He's
forgiven you, and He's rejoicing that He's recovered you.

I have great respect for Evangelism Explosion, Christian Witness Training,

The Way of the Master, the Romans Road and other "plans of salvation." But
you've seen for yourself how much more simple it really is right here in Luke
15. It's about the forgiveness of sins, plain and simple. Sure there may be
other things you need to discuss to clear the forest, so to speak, and help the
sinner see who they really are. But target first those who know they are
sinners, not those with whom you've got to argue til you're blue in the face.
Seek and save the lost, and not the self-righteous and you're work of
evangelism here at Church in the Boro will be much more effective and
fruitful.

Amen.

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