A sermon preached at Kowloon
Union Church on Sunday 11 September 2016, the seventeenth Sunday after
Pentecost, by the Rev. Phyllis
Wong. The scripture readings that day were Exodus 32:7–14 ; 1 Timothy 1:12–17; Luke 15:1–10.
I would like to begin with
the gospel reading taken from Luke – a parable of lost sheep and lost coins.
This parable is a familiar
story to many about God’s love and we are all the lost sheep that Jesus Christ is
wanting to find. It has been used by
evangelists to convert people to Christ.
The context of the parable
The parable of the lost sheep and coin was said
when
Jesus was attacked for being
with the tax collectors and sinners by the Pharisees, the religious leaders.
Jesus spoke to them this parable to show his love and unconditional acceptance
to sinners.
Jesus was challenged by the Pharisees because he
stayed so close to sinners. The tax collectors were officials who served the Roman
Empire. They were wicked people, unwelcomed by the Jews. For the sinners, they
referred to the poor, the sick, the prostitutes – nobodies in society.
With this parable, Jesus is in reverse challenging
the Pharisees, the people of faith.
Jesus’ parable is a challenge to us too, as Christians
today who claim ourselves as Jesus’ disciples.
Many Christians are only Christians in name. They
go to church on Sunday. They are called Sunday Christians. There are Christians
attending prayer meetings and Bible study. They have even given offerings. But
they do not really believe in Christ because they don’t follow what Jesus did –
to love the lost, the rejected and the marginalized, and to go and find them
even at the expanse of their life. More importantly they don’t lead a life of
repentance.
The parable of the lost sheep challenges us to
reflect on this:
Do we live like the Pharisees having no love but
hate and rejection of others in our family, our church, and community?
In a paradoxical understanding- whenever we are
living in a state of hate and rejection of someone and in ourselves, we become the
lost sheep who are suffering from a loss of soul in God’s love.
Rejoice
The journey of returning and going home of the lost
is a great joy to God. In the parable Jesus does not mention the joy of the
neighbour and community they are living in. He mentions the joy is from heaven
and in the presence of the angels. It is remarkable! Bringing back the lost to
community may not be a joy to some members. Obviously the Pharisee and the
religious leaders are not that happy. That’s the reason they challenged Jesus
to eat and stay together with the sinners. But one thing is sure, the Shepherd
is happy. The God of heaven and the angels are happy.
Of course, I must say to receive the lost into the
community is a challenge to the community. The community is required to prepare
and change in their mind set.
Rejoice because of the ‘repentance of
the sinners
Luke said, “When
he found it, he lays it on his shoulders and rejoices. And he comes home, he
calls together his friends and neighbours, saying to them, ‘rejoice with me,
for I have found my sheep that was lost.’ Just so I tell you, there will be
more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous
persons who need no repentance.” (v. 5-7)
“I tell you, there is joy in the
presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.” (v.
10)
In the return of the lost, joy comes from the
‘Repentance of the sinners’. Repentance of the sinners has been emphasized.
What is repentance meant?
In Hebrew,
the word repentance is represented by two verbs: שוב shuv (to return) and נחם nicham
(to feel sorrow).
Repentance in Greek - Metanoia is therefore meaning primarily – to think
differently after; “a change of mind accompanied by regret and change of
conduct, "change of mind and heart".
Repentance
in Chinese – Fui Kui (悔改) ，Fui悔consists of the word – heart & every time/often; and
the word Kui 改change – change your heart every
day.
Repentance
is a change of mind and heart every now and then. Repentance is a life-long faith journey!
From a Christian religious
point of view, repentance is turning to God and refocusing our life in God. It
points to a reorientation to a new life as well.
Repentance is God’s nature
In the scripture reading of
the Old Testament taken from the book of Exodus 32, we saw an angry God who was
very unhappy with the Israelites who were set free from Egypt by Him. But these
people turned away from Him and created their own god to worship. God judged
them harshly and planned to destroy them. But after Moses spoke to him and convinced
him not to punish his people, God changed his mind. From the biblical account of
Exodus, we find that God changed his mind. God is not an iron board without
room to change. No! God does change. God
did change his mind after dialogues with his servant Moses. God turned his
destruction to a focus on life. God turned his anger to mercy. God turned his
rejection to embrace. God reflects his mercy to his people. He is willing to
give chances to his people to change.
If God changes his mind, why
not us? If God changes his mind for the sake of his people, why not us? Moses
interceded for his people. He asked for God’s change of mind on behalf of his
people. Will we do the same?
God changes. Repentance is God’s nature!
Repentance is very important in living
a Christian life. It is a life-long faith journey.
The power of repentance
The Apostle Paul from the letter of 1 Timothy shows
us the power of repentance in his life.
Paul was a person with a high
position who persecuted Christians in the early church era. He became a
converted Christian after a very traumatic experience in encountering the love
of God in Jesus. He was then called to serve the Lord with great commitment. He
set up churches for the gentiles and was devoted to nurture the early churches
and Christ’s disciples. He had even given his life in his course of serving
Christ.
The biblical account of Paul’s experience informs
us of an important message: We are all sinners graced by God’s love and
forgiveness in Christ.
There is no sin that is too great to forgive. There
is no sin that is too mild to ignore. Jesus eats with the sinners. It is not
the sins that matter. It is the grace of repentance that endures.
Sisters and brothers, we are
all lost sheep requiring repentance in our lives. Like Jesus and Paul, we are called to be shepherds
at the same time.
As disciples, we are all
called to be the shepherd to find the lost sheep and bring them back to the
love of God. In doing so we have to be a humble sheep in the first place, being
found by God and return to his home of love.
Last week, Pastor Maggie
shared her message on discipleship. She shared that the provision God makes for us when we answer that call. And that
in doing so we are made new and can try again and again.
We are made new and can try again and again only when we are willing to
repent every now and then.
We are made new only when we are humble before God to seek forgiveness
and change.
We are made new only when we are taking actions in a new course of life path
which God delights.
Conclusion
In Moses’ dialogue with the
Lord, he asked God not to kill the Israelites and God changed his mind in the
Book of Exodus.
The Apostle Paul’s repentance
account and assertion of Jesus Christ, the son of God who came to the world to
save sinners, in 1 Timothy.
Jesus’ parable of the lost
sheep from Luke, of God’s radical love to the marginalized and vulnerable.
All these scriptures today
inspire in us one important message:
Repentance is God’s nature
and is God’s gift for his beloved children.
Repentance is a life-long
faith journey for all believers.
The bad news is we are all
sinners. We are living in a sinful world.
But the good news is we are
all God’s beloved children and He is calling us home to be reconnected to the
source of life and source of love.
Although the world is
sinful, God does not give up and do his best to save. Jesus Christ is pointing
the way for us .
In repentance, we seek God’s
grace again and again, to live a life of conversion that transform sorrow to
joy, despair to hope, division to unity, hatred to love, fear to peace.
Sisters and brothers, in
living an eternal life, we need to take action like the shepherd and the owner
of the coin – go and find, and then bring back the lost to the community, to
rejoice before the angels of heaven.
Amen.
# posted by Kowloon Union Church : Sunday, September 11, 2016
