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Lost and Found

Nick Carter was born in Kentucky in 1900 and became famous for his ability to find lost people.

Nick Carter was not a detective or private investigator; he was a member of the most famous 'seeking and searching' dog breeds in the world. Nick Carter was a bloodhound.

For at least a century and a half, the bloodhound breed has played a major role in law enforcement. Name a high-profile fugitive, and there’s likely to have been a bloodhound on their trail.

Perhaps the most famous of these droopy-faced, big-eared scenting sleuths was indeed Nick Carter, a Kentucky hound named after a popular dime-novel detective. He was born in late 1899, and with his handler, Captain G.V. Mullikin, he became an American legend for his man-trailing talents. The team was so famous that crowds would come out to watch them work.

Nick is credited with more than 650 finds. In 1903, Nona Kilgore Bauer in Bloodhound, documented how Nick’s nose sent 126 criminals to jail. Nick was particularly skilled at tracking cold, or very old, scent trails, and was known for having followed one for 55 miles.[1]

Bloodhounds seek by instinct, the result of centuries of breeding. Once they catch the scent of their lost quarry, they have only one goal – to seek and find that which is lost.

Those words remind me of Jesus’ mission too: “I came to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10).

Like Nick Carter, God has been searching for lost people ever since creation. Since the Garden of Eden, when God sought Adam and Eve after they sinned (Genesis 3:8-9), God has been searching for those He created so that he might have a relationship with them. Our sin destroyed that realtionship. Isaiah said it well, "It's your sins that have cut you off from God. Because of your sins, he has turned away and will not listen anymore (Isaiah 59:2)." So, it’s a good thing that God is seeking us, for the Bible says, “There is no one who seeks after God” (Romans 3:11).

When Jesus said those words in Luke 19:10, his reason for coming to earth couldn’t be clearer. He had just finished an encounter with Zacchaeus, the tax collector, when he said those words.

Zacchaeus’ profession, and Zacchaeus himself, were highly despised. Not wanting to draw undue attention to himself, and being small in stature, his only way to see Jesus that day was to climb a sycamore tree to get a better view. The story unfolds like this in Luke 19:5-10:

When Jesus came by, he looked up at Zacchaeus and called him by name. “Zacchaeus!” he said. “Quick, come down! I must be a guest in your home today.” Zacchaeus quickly climbed down and took Jesus to his house in great excitement and joy. But the people were displeased. “He has gone to be the guest of a notorious sinner,” they grumbled.

Meanwhile, Zacchaeus stood before the Lord and said, “I will give half my wealth to the poor, Lord, and if I have cheated people on their taxes, I will give them back four times as much!” Jesus responded, “Salvation has come to this home today, for this man has shown himself to be a true son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and save those who are lost.

Did you notice how the Pharisees reacted that day? They grumbled and complained that Jesus was going to the house of a notorious sinner. After all, they were “righteous” and couldn’t understand why Jesus would shun them in favor of Zacchaeus. Self-righteous people always have a hard time recognizing their sin and seeing their need for a Saviour. And the Pharisees were a perfect example of this.

Perhaps another encounter with these “righteous” people might explain why Jesus called them what he did. We pick up that story in Luke 15. The opening words of that chapter start like this: “Tax collectors and other notorious sinners often came to listen to Jesus teach. This made the Pharisees and teachers of religious law complain that he was associating with such sinful people—even eating with them!”

So, Jesus doubles down on his teaching. After hearing their grumbling, the Bible says, “So Jesus told them these stories.” He fires off three parables (stories) in this chapter, one after the other, about something or someone that was lost – the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the lost son.

If there was one thing that Jesus wanted the religious people to know that day, it was this – lost people mattered to him. In fact, in each of these stories, Jesus underscores the sentiments of everyone who had found whatever it was that they had lost.

For the lost sheep that was found the shepherd said, “Rejoice with me because I have found my lost sheep.” For the women who found her lost coin, she said, “Rejoice with me because I have found my lost coin.” And for the father who found his lost son, he said, “We must celebrate with a feast, for this son of mine was dead and has now returned to life. He was lost, but now he is found.”

In every instance, the theme on earth was one of celebration. And, even heaven was not left out of the celebration. Jesus said twice in these stories, “In the same way, there is joy in the presence of God’s angels when even one sinner repents.”

The Pharisees were being centered out that day. They were self-righteous; and the idea that they were lost and needed to repent of their sins was beneath them.

Their condescending manner was truly repugnant. It was also on full display after Matthew (another tax collector) decided to follow Jesus. Matthew invited some of his friends to his home. He simply wanted his friends to meet Jesus. This is how the story unfolds in Mark 2:15-17:

Later, Levi (Matthew) invited Jesus and his disciples to his home as dinner guests, along with many tax collectors and other disreputable sinners. (There were many people of this kind among Jesus’ followers.) But when the teachers of religious law who were Pharisees saw him eating with tax collectors and other sinners, they asked his disciples, “Why does he eat with such scum?” When Jesus heard this, he told them, “Healthy people don’t need a doctor—sick people do. I have come to call not those who think they are righteous, but those who know they are sinners.

Jesus' use of the word “righteous” was clearly satirical when he stated, “I have come to call not those who think they are righteous, but those who know they are sinners.”

Self-righteous people can’t imagine they are as bad as other notorious sinners. They think they are “healthy”. They don't see their need for a Saviour. Regrettably, Jesus can't forgive the sins of these people until they recognize they are lost and in need of his forgiveness.

On the other hand, people who know themselves to be sinners are the focus of Jesus’ search and rescue mission. Such was the case with Zacchaeus and Matthew.

But if the encounters with Zacchaeus and Matthew (both tax collectors) didn't underscore the Pharisees' self-righteousness, then the story of another tax collector in Luke 18 would leave them with no doubt. It's the Parable of the Pharisee and Tax Collector:

Then Jesus told this story to some who had great confidence in their own righteousness and scorned everyone else: “Two men went to the Temple to pray. One was a Pharisee, and the other was a despised tax collector. The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed this prayer*: ‘I thank you, God, that I am not like other people—cheaters, sinners, adulterers. I’m certainly not like that tax collector! I fast twice a week, and I give you a tenth of my income.’

But the tax collector stood at a distance and dared not even lift his eyes to heaven as he prayed. Instead, he beat his chest in sorrow, saying, ‘O God, be merciful to me, for I am a sinner.’ I tell you, when this man went home, he was right with God, but the Pharisee was not.

It would be impossible for the Pharisees to miss that Jesus was pointing them out that day for their self-righteousness. But we still have no indication that they ever changed their ways and came to repentance. Self-rightesousness can harden people to their need for Jesus.

God created each of us to have fellowship with him. But because of Adam’s sin we all became sinners. In other words, we are all lost – separated from God because of our sin. This is what Paul meant when he said in Romans 5:12, “When Adam sinned, sin entered the world. Adam’s sin brought death, so death spread to everyone, for everyone sinned.” Yes, even the self-righteous Pharisees are included in the word – everyone. Our sin levelled the playing field for all of us. We are all lost and in need of a Saviour.

Thankfully, God did not wait for us to clean up our act or to straighten ourselves out. That's because none of us could have ever accomplished such a feat. Our sins loomed over all of us. But thankfully, God intervened. He sent his Son on a rescue mission in search of us. Paul describes it like this:

But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners. And since we have been made right in God’s sight by the blood of Christ, he will certainly save us from God’s condemnation. For since our friendship with God was restored by the death of his Son while we were still his enemies, we will certainly be saved through the life of his Son. So now we can rejoice in our wonderful new relationship with God because our Lord Jesus Christ has made us friends of God (Romans 8:5-11)

Restoring our relationship with God starts with each of us recognizing our sin and our need for a Saviour. When we do, our relationship with God can be restored and we can be friends with God again.

But coming to terms with the fact that we are lost and need toibe rescued is not easy. Such an admission fights against our self-righteous pride and self-importance.

So, Jesus pointed out to all the “adults in the room” something they needed to hear. In Matthew 18: 2-3 we read, “Jesus called a little child to him and put the child among them. Then he said, “I tell you the truth, unless you turn from your sins and become like little children, you will never get into the Kingdom of Heaven.”

Turning from our sins and becoming like a little child means to become wholly trusting and dependent on someone bigger and greater than ourselves. That someone is Jesus.

Let me illustrate what Jesus is saying. In her book, A Field Guide to Getting Lost, Rebecca Solnit tells the story of her friend Sallie who is part of a search-and-rescue team in the Rocky Mountains.

Sallie still remembers the frantic search for a lost eleven-year-old boy who was deaf and losing his eyesight. The boy wandered off during a late afternoon game of hide-and-seek. Because he was deaf, he was particularly hard to find. He had been blowing a whistle given him for just such an occasion, but he could not hear how close he was to a nearby stream. The roar of the water made his signal impossible for those searching for him to hear. After a harrowing night on his own, the sun came up, and he started blowing his whistle again. The search-and-rescue team finally found him, very cold but okay.

Sallie and other search-and-rescue experts say that the key to survival often hinges on one thing: knowing and admitting that you are lost. That's why kids are found more often than adults. Kids don't stray as far. They usually curl up in a sheltered place and wait for their rescuers. And unlike many adults who get lost in the Rockies, kids don't desperately try to save themselves. Instead, they aren't afraid to stop and admit that they need help.[2]

Maybe it’s time we became child-like again – and stop and admit we are lost.

If you know God today, it is because God sought you, found you, and saved you. Thank Him today for His relentless pursuit of you.

If you don’t have a relationship with God today, why not stop your straying and admit your lost. God said through the prophet Jeremiah: “If you look for me wholeheartedly, you will find me. I will be found by you,” says the Lord (Jer. 29:13-14).”

Don’t stay lost any longer, come to Jesus today!