A Particular Set of Skills

And darkness of our hearts, and by his grace alone are we able to wholeheartedly declare that Jesus is Lord. People of God, what a miracle. You being here is a miracle. You owning Christ as your savior is not happenstance. It's not coincidence. It's not something to be presumed. It is an absolute miracle, and it is worth rejoicing. Hallelujah, CTK.

This is Christ the King's sermons. Christ the King's sermons is a ministry of Christ the King Presbyterian Church located in Raleigh, North Carolina. CTK is a community rooted in the depth of the gospel, refined by hard conversations, fueled by meaningful relationships, and committed to redemptive work in Raleigh.

Good morning, CTK. For those of you who are new and or visiting, maybe you know me, maybe you don't, so I was going to introduce myself. My name is, as Jeff said, Danny Yancey, and I am worship director here. And as always, it is a joy and a privilege to be able to open up God's word together.

I want to jump right in today. Now I want to begin today's sermon with a movie quote. I wanted to see if you can figure out where this movie comes from. Are you ready? Here we go.

I don't know who you are. I don't know what you want. If you're looking for ransom I can tell you I don't have money but what I do have are a very particular set of skills, skills I have acquired over a very long career, skills that make me a nightmare for people like you. If you let my daughter go now that will be the end of it. I will not look for you, I will not pursue you, but if you don't, I will look for you and I will find you.

Anybody know where that's from? If you happen to be a fan of Liam Neeson and the Taken series you're going to recognize that these are the words of Neeson's character Brian Mills and he is a father whose daughter has been taken and as a father myself I got to say I absolutely love his response.

In this response he's communicating to the assailants that his main focus, his only focus is getting his daughter back. Nothing else matters and if they will just let her go he'll drop it, forget the whole thing and move on. But if they won't let her go then he has a very particular set of skills with which he's going to use to get her back.

Now with this quote in mind I've titled today's sermon "A Particular Set of Skills" and I did that because our text today it's about a woman seeking her lost coin, but on a deeper level it's all about a father relentlessly searching for his lost children.

Our preaching text today is up on the screen behind me. If you would, as is our custom, let's read together.

Now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear him. And the Pharisees and the scribes murmured saying, this man receives sinners and eats with them. Or what woman having 10 silver coins, if she loses 1 coin, does not light a lamp and sweep the house and seek diligently until she finds it? When she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors saying, rejoice with me for I have found the coin which I had lost. Just so I tell you, there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents. — Luke 15:1-2, 8-10

This is the word of God for the people of God. Thanks be to God.

And I want to look at this text today through the lens of three points. Point number one, a particular value. Point two, a particular search. And then finally point three, a particular joy.

Before we dive in, will you pray with me? Father, illuminate our hearts this morning the way that only your word can. By your spirit, may we be filled, refreshed, and sustained in your presence, and may we be transformed more and more into the people you have called us to be. Speak to us now. Your people are listening. In the name of Jesus, we pray. Amen.

The Missionary Heart of God

And so again, we've been embarking on this sermon series entitled "The Missionary Heart of God" and in it, we're looking at these first three parables in Luke 15. And Jeff has been taking us through the third parable, the parable of the prodigal son. In a couple weeks, Elliot's gonna take us through the first parable, the parable of the lost sheep. And today, of course, my goal is to take us through the parable of the lost coin. And if you've read these before, you notice that the second parable, this lost coin parable, is the shortest of the three. It's my plan that this sermon will follow the same pattern. And so with that in mind, I want to dive right into point number one, a particular value.

Point One: A Particular Value

And so as Jesus is telling this parable, he begins with a simple setup. A woman has 10 silver coins and loses one. She has 10 silver coins and then loses one.

Now to fully understand the weight of this, we need to recognize the significance of that coin. You see, in those days, a silver coin was likely called a drachma or a denarius and it was roughly equivalent to a day's wage.

And so you see for this woman, this lost coin wasn't like for us. At the end of the day, I have a change jar and I'll just throw some coins in there. This wasn't just spare change. This lost coin was deeply significant. Losing it wasn't just a lost coin. If one of these coins was lost, it had to be found at all costs.

You see, they weren't just random pieces of metal. Each coin had an image stamped on it—the image of Caesar. And because of what was stamped on this coin, this coin had value. It had worth, and it had to be found at all costs.

And so in telling this parable, Jesus is pointing them to the truth that in the same way that this lost coin has value, every single person—including the tax collectors and the sinners that he's eating with—every single person has immense value in the eyes of God.

You see in the very first book of the Bible, in the very first chapter around the twenty-seventh verse, the word declares that we are made in the image of God. Now that's not just some lofty theological concept. That is a declaration of worth. That you are not an accident. That you are not just a number in a crowd. You are known and loved by God, and his image is imprinted on you. Therefore, you have immeasurable value.

But here's the question: Do we see people, especially the lost, with that kind of value? Or do we reduce them to their failures, their politics, or their lifestyles? You see, our God—He sees all of those things, but He looks beyond them and He values each person as His creation, as a bearer of His image.

Here's a quick illustration of what I'm talking about. Take a look at this piece of paper. What do you see? A piece of paper, right? Nothing really significant about it. It comes from trees made of wood. I pulled it out of a stack of 500 just like it. And so I can take this piece of paper and ball it up. Now what do you have? Trash, right? Now it's trash. I mean, for me, yes, it's still paper, but if a student gave me work on this, oh no, no, no, no, no, no, no—that has to be redone. I'm not going to grade your trash. This is now trash.

Now take a look at this piece of paper. It also comes from trees, from wood. It's also paper, but there's something different about this paper, right? Yes, it's special paper, I know, I know, it's special, but still something different about it. Now I can take this and ball it up—this hurts to do. I have a kid in college. This hurts. And now what is it? It's not trash. It is not trash. It is still a $100 bill.

What's different? Here's what's different: the image that's stamped on it. And so even though this is now balled up, crumpled up like trash, its value has not changed.

And so this morning, CTK, I want you to consider this $100 bill. Life may have thrown you some curveballs that have left you scarred, crumpled, and feeling like this. But CTK, you have the image of God stamped on your life. And so regardless of the marks, of the creases, regardless of the crumples, regardless of the scars of sin that you have committed or the sins that have been committed against you, your value—just like this $100 bill—remains unchanged. Jesus paid it all and has credited to us a value that we don't deserve.

And so if you're here today and you feel lost, know that because you are an image bearer, you have a particular value as a son or a daughter of the Most High God. And the Father, with his particular set of skills, is diligently searching for you.

A Particular Search

Which brings me to point number two: a particular search. Let me put this away for a second. Again, kid in college. Kid in college. Take a look at verse eight.

Now as you're looking through it and as I was preparing for today's sermon and reading through the text and looking it over, the thing that kept sticking out to me over anything else is the position of this coin.

You see, of all the parables, in the first parable—the parable of the lost sheep—the sheep wanders away from the fold. In the third parable, the younger son willingly leaves home. But here in this second parable, this coin is lost in the house. It's lost in the house.

Now I find that interesting because if we're honest today, it parallels the experience of many of us in the church. We've grown up in the church. We know how to do church. We know the hymns. We know the creeds. We know all the right answers to all the catechism questions. But over the years, faith has grown a little stagnant. Worship feels a bit stale. And church for us has become a thing that we do simply because it's what we've always done. It's what good boys and girls do on a Sunday morning. You go to church. And Christ has become for us little more than a collection of facts that we know in our heads instead of a person that we genuinely love and own in our hearts.

Yet we come Sunday after Sunday not to experience a real and living Christ but to gather more information. And in our hearts, if we're honest, we quietly question the relevance and the value of it all. You see, we're in the house, but we feel lost.

Take a listen to this story of a man from The UK by the name of Jim Thring. He's an IT professional and became a Christian as a young adult. He then lost his faith and spent nearly ten years as a committed atheist. And these are his words as he explains his own story of feeling lost.

He says, "I was brought up in a very loving household in East London and became a Christian at university around the age of 19. The Christian Union at university was very strong and I carried on with my faith for a number of years, but over time the simplicity of the gospel that I received when I first became a Christian and the uniqueness of Christ just started to get lost. My faith became a bit more pedestrian and began to stagnate."

And then he says this interesting quote that stopped me for a bit. He says, "If God stops meaning something to you in your day to day life, the next logical question is, then why carry on believing?" And he says that was what had happened to him.

Deconstruction stories like this abound. Stories of Christians who walk away from the faith because they feel just like Jim and just like the coin in our parable, lost in the house. But there is good news today for all lost coins for whom faith has grown cold and dark. And that good news is this: the lamp has been lit. The lamp has been lit.

What am I talking about? Here's what I'm talking about. Did you catch that in verse eight? Jesus says that to find the lost coin, the woman lights a lamp and sweeps the house diligently looking for the coin until she finds it. And how ironic here that Jesus is talking about this lamp that's lighting the way because he himself is that lamp.

How do I know that? Here's how I know that: because one Friday as the world stumbled in darkness and as lost coins everywhere had no hope of ever being found, this same Jesus took on the darkness head on. And darkness did its best to snuff out the light. They beat him, they mocked him, they spit on him, they placed a crown of thorns on his head, they drove nails into his hands and his feet. They lifted him high and stretched him wide and crucified him on a cross. And there on that old rugged cross, Jesus died.

The darkness had done its best to snuff out the light. But early Sunday morning God lit the lamp of heaven and Jesus—the light of the world, Jesus the light of men, Jesus the light that shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it—got up from the grave, ascended to the Father where now He reigns and shines forevermore. Shine, Jesus, shine.

And so like the coin in the parable, you too may feel lost in the house—dusty, isolated, discarded, forgotten. But hear this gospel message: The lamp is shining and the Father is sweeping, sweeping the house in search of you. And here's the good news about it: you don't even need to clean yourself up to be found. Coins can't do that anyway.

Bring your darkest doubts, bring your coldest faith and allow the warmth of the light of Christ to bring about resurrection and new life to the dead places in your heart and to transform your life as only He can. I tell you, with his particular set of skills he is on a particular search seeking after you. And not only will he find you, but when he finds you the Father and all of heaven will rejoice over you.

A Particular Joy

Which brings me to my third and final point: a particular joy as we look again at verses 9 through 10. And as you're looking at these verses, they remind me of an old nineteen nineties McDonald's commercial that everyone referred to as "Calvin's Got a Job." Have you guys seen this commercial before? It's from the nineties. I'm in my forties—it's okay.

In this commercial, everybody in the community is talking about how proud they were of this inner city kid named Calvin who got a job at McDonald's and was working his way up through the ranks. Now, I remember watching this commercial and thinking to myself, "Why are you all so happy about this? This is Calvin's job. You didn't get the job. It's Calvin's job. He got the job. What are you so excited about?"

But now that I'm older I understand the sentiment. Yes, the accomplishment of getting the job was Calvin's, but the joy and the pride of it—that belonged to the entire community.

Now, I didn't grow up in the inner city as I said before. I grew up way out in the country in Granville County. But I remember for my own life moments of celebration: my graduations, my wedding, the birth of my children, and most recently in 2019 at the homegoing celebration of my mother.

My childhood community came out in droves to celebrate, to mourn and to rejoice with me. I remember one time in particular after getting my master's degree I went back to my home church and I walked in and there was this older church lady who saw me and ran up to me and gave me the biggest hug I've ever felt before. She then grabbed me by the shoulders, looked me in the eye and jokingly she said, "We got our Master's Degree now?" To which I replied, "Yes ma'am, we got our Master's Degree."

Now, I remember getting this Master's degree and I don't remember seeing a single one of them studying in the study halls. I don't remember seeing a single one of them conducting any concerts. I don't remember seeing them at all in the process of getting this degree. But the work to get the degree was mine, but the joy of getting that degree belonged to the entire community.

Just like in this parable, the work to find that coin was all hers. She did the work to find it, but when she found it, she called her friends and neighbors to celebrate with the entire community and people of God. The same is true for us. The work of our salvation does not belong to us. That work rests in the nail-pierced hands of Jesus alone. But the joy of our salvation belongs to us.

But do you see the disconnect? Do you feel it? There are stories of lost coins being found all around us all the time. The Lord is ever at work seeking and finding lost coins. Heaven is perpetually rejoicing. But what about us? Where's our joy upon hearing that lost coins have been found?

Perhaps we've become a bit jaded to conversion stories. We hear them and for us it's just another shoulder shrug moment. Yet the truth of the matter is that every single conversion is a miracle. And as reformed Christians, we understand this better than most: there is nothing inside of any of us that calls out after God. As a matter of fact, our very nature is at war with God. Nothing in us that would make anybody say, "Oh yeah, of course she's gonna be a Christian." None of that.

Yet somehow miraculously, for those of us who believe, the light of Christ has broken through the dense darkness of our hearts and by his grace alone are we able to wholeheartedly declare that Jesus is Lord. People of God, what a miracle. You being here is a miracle. You owning Christ as your Savior is not happenstance. It's not coincidence. It's not something to be presumed. It is an absolute miracle and it is worth rejoicing. Hallelujah CTK!

My prayer for us is that we would become a church that celebrates hard when sinners come to faith. And as we renew our commitment to evangelism, my hope is that we will make celebration over lost coins being found a part of our identity as a church. May our rejoicing be, as we say in the Lord's prayer, on earth as it is in heaven.

Three Takeaways

As I prepare to close, the parable of the lost coin is a reminder that God's heart beats for the lost. He values every person, pursues us relentlessly, and he celebrates extravagantly when we are found. So how do we live in light of this parable? Let me suggest three quick takeaways.

First takeaway: Recognize the value of people. Every person you encounter—that fast food worker with a really bad attitude, the person that cuts you off in traffic (that one's hard), the panhandler you pass every day on your way to work—every person you encounter is someone God treasures. Treat them with the dignity and love that reflects their worth in God's eyes.

Second takeaway: Join the search. Ask yourself, who in my life is lost and needs to be found? Begin praying for them daily and look for opportunities to share the Gospel. Don't give up on them. Don't quit. Seek diligently for them as our text says. God's persistence should inspire ours. You know, we're currently in a Sunday school series on evangelism. Come to Sunday school and learn how to share the gospel in new ways with those whom God has placed in your life.

Third and final takeaway: Celebrate salvation. When someone comes to faith, let's be a community that rejoices with the angels. Let's fuel the fire of evangelism with the joy of the find, remembering that every found coin is a miracle worth celebrating.

A Call to Reflection

As the worship team is coming up and getting ready to lead us in singing, this is not an altar call. Instead, it's a call for each of us to honestly reflect on the state of our own heart. If you are here today and you feel lost, know this: God is searching for you.

Don't let the enemy trick you into believing that you're somehow too lost, that you're too sinful, or that your questions and your doubts somehow disqualify you. Jesus is strong enough to handle all of your failings and every sin. He's already paid the price for those, and he is strong enough to handle all of your questions and your doubts.

I encourage you to come and talk with one of our elders today.

Don't wait, you've wrestled with those questions on your own long enough. Make today the day that you raise your white flag, any white flag as Jeff told us a couple weeks ago. God treasures you. He is seeking diligently for you and when he finds you, not if, when he finds you, we as a church, are excited to join all of heaven in rejoicing over you.

Prayer

God, we feel your presence moving in this place. We pray for all lost coins needing to be found in this house. We pray that the light of Jesus would shine brightly over us as you sweep through our midst in this church and throughout the city of Raleigh. And as you shine, Jesus shine. May your light transform our questions and our doubts into blessed assurance. Transform our graves into gardens, our dead places into places of thriving life. Our flickering faith into a flame and transform all lost coins into a wondrous treasure that you, oh Lord, have found. You're the only one who can. In the name of Jesus, we pray. Amen.

Thank you for listening to today's sermon.