Original Recipe | Week 3
Week 3 Original Recipe
Lost
Key Verses:
Luke 15:22-24
Overview:
We all have different adjectives that we use to describe people. Short, tall, fat, smart, not smart, rich, poor, republican, democrat, good, bad. Jesus had two adjectives that he used to describe people. Lost and found. These were important because they describe people’s relationship to God. Either connected or not. This was because Jesus realized, and we should too, that his mission and ours, was and still is to connect people to God. People who were nothing like Jesus liked Jesus, and Jesus liked them. Because we are the body of Christ, the same should be true of us.
Getting Started:
What is the most expensive or important item you have ever lost? If that item is still missing, how do you feel when you think about that item? If you found the item, how did you feel when you recovered it?
When an item becomes lost, why does it become our priority and consume our time, thoughts, and energy?
Read Luke 15:1-2
Now the tax collectors and sinners were all gathering around to hear Jesus. But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.”
What are the three adjectives that describe the people in this passage? (Sinners, Tax collectors, and Pharisees)
People who were nothing like Jesus liked Jesus, and Jesus liked them.
Why was this counter to the culture and beliefs of the Pharisees?
Does that misinformation still exist among “religious” people?
Read Luke 15:3-7
Then Jesus told them this parable: “Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Doesn’t he leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.’ I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.
What jumps out to you in this passage?
Read Luke 15:8-10
“Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins and loses one. Doesn’t she light a lamp, sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it? And when she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost coin.’ In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”
What jumps out to you in this passage?
Read Luke 15:11-12
Jesus continued: “There was a man who had two sons. The younger one said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of the estate.’ So he divided his property between them.
What do these two verses say about the relationship between the father and the son?
Why would the father let the son go?
Luke 15:13-19 Summary
The son left the family farm, went to the city, and blew all the wealth his dad had given him.
Son became so broke that he took the worst possible job for a Jewish person, and that was feeding pigs. Even worse, he ate the pig slop because he was hungry.
Realized his dad’s servants were better off than him and decided to go home and ask his dad if he could be a servant.
All the way home he prepared a speech to try to persuade his dad to let him work on the farm.
Read Luke 15:20-23
So he got up and went to his father. “But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.
“The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ “But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate.
What stands out to you in these verses?
What adjectives would you use to describe this son?
Read Luke 15:24
For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate.
What are the adjectives the father used to describe his returning son?
These adjectives were not literal. The son was not dead, nor was the son lost. His father most likely knew exactly where his son was either because he had others watching or others kept telling him where his son was and what his son was doing.
What was dead and lost between the father and the son?
How does this parable explain how God sees people and how we should too?
Read Luke 19:10
For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”
Changing your mind.
The gravitational pull in churches sometimes is to focus on the ninety-nine and not the one.
Why is this not the proper focus and who should be our focus? Why?
People who were nothing like Jesus liked Jesus, and Jesus liked them. Because we are the body of Christ the same should be true of us.