Hidden Treasure | Part 10 · Rewind

Pastor Daniel Goulding · Aug 5, 2019 · 70 min watch · 3 min read

Hidden Treasure | Part 10

Big Idea

It is only when we realize we are lost that we can be truly found.

In Luke 15, Jesus tells three parables — a lost sheep, a lost coin, and two lost sons — to reveal that every person is lost, whether through obvious rebellion or hidden self-righteousness. God's response to lostness is not anger but reckless, pursuing love: a father who runs down the road to embrace a broken son before he can even finish his apology. Worth before God is never earned through work or religious effort; it is received through spiritual rebirth. The invitation of the gospel is simply to stop, admit we are lost, and let the Father bring us home.

Key points

1
1Jesus tells these parables to address two kinds of lost people: notorious sinners who know they are far from God, and religious people who are hiding in plain sight.
2
2The parables of the lost sheep and the lost coin establish that in God's kingdom, lost things being found have immeasurable value — and finding them triggers a celebration in heaven.
3
3Sin is appealing in the moment, but it ultimately leads us to places we never intended to go, far from our Father and eating out of pig troughs.
4
4Our best attempts to work our way back to God will always leave us a far ways away; it is the Father who runs toward us while we are still a long way off.
5
5Worth before God comes through birth, not through work — just as a child is a son by birth, not by performance.
6
6The older brother represents the danger of being in the house of God while being far from the heart of God — going through religious motions without a real relationship.
7
7The place where we must stop — whether we are the rebellious son or the self-righteous older brother — is the cross, where Jesus paid the price once and for all to make a way home.

Application

Pastor Daniel's challenge is direct and personal: wherever you find yourself this morning — whether you are the younger son who has wandered far and knows it, or the older brother who has been around church so long that religious routine has replaced real relationship — the move is the same. Stop. Don't try to work your way back or talk God through your plan to fix yourself. Just stop at the cross and remember that Jesus already paid the full price. Admit you are lost. Let the Father, who is already running toward you, bring you home. And if self-righteousness is your tendency, let the story of the older brother be a mirror: going through the motions, checking spiritual boxes, and getting angry when grace shows up for people you think don't deserve it — that is its own kind of being lost. Worth is not earned. It is given. Rest in that, and let it change the way you love people.

Take it into your week

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7-day devotional

A personal reading plan from this message — scripture, reflection, and prayer for each day.

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Jesus is at a dinner table, and the room is full of tension. The religious leaders are grumbling because the wrong people have shown up — tax collectors, sinners, the kind of crowd that respectable folks avoided. And Jesus, rather than distancing Himself, is eating with them. Pastor Daniel pointed out that this scene is the whole reason Luke 15 exists. Jesus isn't telling these three parables in a vacuum; He's telling them directly to two kinds of people sitting in the same room: those who know they are far from God, and those who think they are close because they've been near the building for years. That's a quietly uncomfortable thought. It's easy to assume that showing up, knowing the songs, and understanding the language of church means we are close to the heart of God. But proximity is not the same as relationship. The Pharisees were as lost as the prodigal — they just couldn't see it yet. Before you can receive what the rest of this week has to offer, it helps to simply sit with the question Jesus was already raising: Which person in that room am I most like right now? Not as a judgment — just as an honest starting place. Jesus didn't pull back from either group. He sat down with both of them and started talking.

For reflection

When you picture yourself in that room, are you more drawn to the side of the table where the sinners are sitting, or the side where the religious leaders are standing — and what does that tell you?

Pray

Pray for honest self-awareness — that God would help you see clearly which kind of lostness might be closest to home right now.

Made by Rewind AI from the sermon transcript. Always trust the sermon itself over anything here. How Rewind uses AI

Small-group discussion guide

For leading a group conversation about this message.

Open

These three parables in Luke 15 picture two very different kinds of people standing at a distance from God — and a Father who runs toward both of them. Take a moment to recall what stood out to you from this message before we dig in together.

Discussion questions

1
Luke 15:1-2 opens with two groups listening to Jesus: tax collectors and sinners on one side, and the Pharisees and scribes on the other. Why do you think Jesus tells the same set of parables to both groups at the same time?
2
In the parables of the lost sheep and the lost coin, the shepherd and the woman both drop everything and search until they find what was lost — and then throw a party. What does that pattern of response suggest about how God sees a single lost person?
3
When the younger son finally 'came to his senses' in Luke 15:17, he still had a whole speech prepared — a plan to talk his way back into the household as a hired servant. How does the father's response in verse 20 compare to what the son was expecting, and what does that gap tell us about how God responds to someone who turns back toward Him?
4
Pastor Daniel pointed out that worth before God comes through birth, not through work — a child is a son by birth, not by performance. How does that idea push back against the way people commonly think about earning a place with God?
5
The older brother in Luke 15:25-30 has stayed close to home, worked hard, and followed the rules — yet he stands outside the party, angry. What does his reaction reveal about what he believed he was working toward all along?
6
Pastor Daniel challenged us that whether we identify more with the younger son or the older brother, the move is the same: stop, admit we are lost, and let the Father bring us home rather than trying to fix ourselves first. What might it look like practically for a community like ours to live in a way that reflects that kind of grace — especially toward people we might think don't deserve it?

Pray together

A Father who runs toward us while we are still a long way off — and the freedom of receiving worth as a gift rather than earning it

Made by Rewind AI from the sermon transcript. Always trust the sermon itself over anything here. How Rewind uses AI

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Hidden Treasure

Week 10 · 8 messages

Where these passages are preached

Luke 15 John 10

Explore related topics

Being Lost and Found God's Pursuing Love Grace Over Works Self-Righteousness Spiritual Rebirth The Prodigal Son

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