SUNDAY READING.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 307, 5 February 1910, Page 7

SUNDAY READING.

SERMON BY REV. J. GUY, NEW PLYMOUTH. LOST AND FOUND. "I have found my sheep which was lost. . . I have found tlie piece which I had lost. . . Thy brother was lost and is found." —Luke xv., C, 9, 32. The fifteenth of Luke may be called the "lost and found'' chapter. It is' Christ's great explanation of the interest which lie took in lapsed men. There are three lost things spoken of: a lost sheep, a lost ]>!•. e.: of silver and a lost man. How do tilings j.i lost? 'Hie sheep getslos'fc by its own heedlessness. It nibbles the grass until it sees a thin place in the fence; the grass looks green on the other side; it pushes through and wanders on; perhaps something startles it, and it runs' until it is soon a long distance from its fold. There we have

a picture of the heedlessness of men. Attracted by the bright surface of things of life, many wander from duty and God; not deliberately —they would be startled if you suggested tliat at first — but they wander all the same, and the sense of distance from God comes to the s'oul. The prophet saia, "All we like sheep have gone astray." The piece of silver was lost through the ■woman's carelessness. And that is liow some people are lost to the kingdom of God parents too careless to teach their children to pray, or to encourage them to read the Bible, or to take them with them regularly to the house of God—too bus'y to set them the example of a godly life and to help them to cultivate their own. The man was lost by his own wilfulness. lie would leave home. What set him against his home we are not told. Perhaps the evil example or suggestion of another. However it came about, lie ceased to he happy there; leave it ho Would, and he took the swift path down to degradation. Now, lost things are worth something. Why did the shepherd seek the missing sh?ep? Because it is worth something. How much is a sheep worth? The boys at school a little while ago told me about sixteen or eighteen shillings. Is that so? Then it is worth while taking a little trouble to find one that has Wandered away. The piece of silver was worth something. It was probably an ornament belonging to the woman's head-dress, Worth commercially about a shilling or eighteenpence, but from the standpoint of sentiment worth as much as the en-gagement-ring to a betrothed damsel, or the wedding-ring to a wife. And what is the worth of a man to his home, to his country, to his God. Will any one tell us the worth of a man—not only of Shattes'bury the ■philanthropist, or Gladstone the statesman, or Moody the evangelist, but the wortlS of a humble, upright man whose vote counts for righteousness, and whose life is a constant witness for God? The value of a man in the sight of God is beyond all comparison. Its measure is the cross. (To redeem us He spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all. How arc lost things found? The shepherd sought the sheep. How much is condensed into that seeking wc cannot say. How far he went, how many people he asked, how tired with his travel;', how hope led him on—you can picture it all if you have ever sought a living thing that has been lost. The woman sought the lost piece of silver. And mark how she (l.id it, She lit a candle, siie swept her IiOUSP, slie sought diligently until she found it. Perhaps some of you have done that, too, and you know the interest of the search and the joy of its' success. The man was found through a change in himself. Does some one ask why that father in the parable did not do tor his son what the shepherd did for the sheep? Well, then, we must remember that we are dealing with a man. 'And because he is a man he must be treated differently. You can drive a sheep back to the fold, you can pick up a' piece of silver out of the dirt, but you cannot drive a man back to his home. As he voluntarily went away long as lie had the old views of life, as long as he had the same feelings towards his father and his home, he was lost to it. A man is never found until he is changed in thought and feeling. How did the change come about? Experience and memory played a very important part in bringing about that change. And when he came to himself lie said, How many hired servants of my father have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger. I will arise and go unto my father." That young man knew his father "better by comparison with the men he had met since he left him. He knew his home better by comparison with the haunts of sin in which he 'had wasted his substance with riotous living, and with the wretched hovel hi which he now sheltered himself. These formed the sordid background on which s'tood out the generous character of his father, and the comfort and safety of his childhood's home. Some men have to go away to a heathen country before they realise the value of Christianity. While they live in a Christian land they enjoy the advantages of its varied life, but they do not reverence and obey our Lord whose teaching and spirit have moulded the civilisation in which they have grown lip. They may even make light of our Christian' faith as if it were a relic of a bygone age. But when they go away to another country where Christianity is' •unknown, especially if it be a country where the people are uncivilised, then 'they begin to see how supremely valuable is that Christian faith which they have neglected, with the protection which it throws around our person, our home, and our civic life. There are two ways of learning uie value of God: by the fulness of blessing \which he pours into the obedient life, and by the barrenness of the life of disobedience. Some men do not realise liow gracious God is until they have wandered from Him, and the bitterness of sin has come home to them; then they come to themselves, and say, ' 1 'have erred exceedingly; I have forsaken "my best friend; I will arise and go *home, and 'Will s'ay, Father, I ha\e sinned." We learn by experience. The young man bought his knowledge dearly. He 'spent all his wealth, but he got a clear {conception of his own sin and a cleai View of his father's character. The •knowledge of the character of his father was an important element in his finding. A man may realise his 1 own

Vnisery and unworthinoss, but that alone will not change him. We are not left alone to wrestle with the problem of our wandering from God Unci our return. Jesus has made it 'clear beyond all question that God has set his love upon us, sinners though we Ure; that He himself is' the way back to 'God, and that through Him all who will 'may come home. Wheji any man is j truly coming to himself he has his eye lin two directions—on himself, and he repents; and on (lod, and he comes 'home. The young man naiised his unworthiness, and h ■ i bought unout his lather s goodness. What follows thought? Decision. His will asserted itself: I will arise and go to my father. That man's ■finding was a change of feeling as w-ell its a change of place; and a change of feeliii" and thought and decision first, j 'And we are here reminded of the inI wardness of the salvation which Christ I 'brings to us. lie gives us the right attitude and spirit. The very springs bf life are purified, and the soul cries ! 'out for its father and its home. ! Iln each case referred to in the parable 'the finding was an occasion of joy. The 'shepherd said to his fellows', "Rejoice 'with me, for I have found my sheep Which was lost." The woman said to 'her neighbors, "Rejoice witli me, for 1 have found the piece which I had lost. v 'The father said, "Let us be merry," And Vue joy on earth over lost things being | Sound is an echo of the joy in heaven , Mien lost men are found for a life of . fellowship with God. I What a pity that there should have "been a jarring note at all. We feel ashamed of that elder brother who (.'would not go in and share the joy over liisi brother's return. There are always some grumblers. Is there a mission being held, are men and women being V'on for God from a life of sin, then some one will have fault to find either with the preacher or his message, or because some one of evil repute has tome to himself and has come home. But tlie joy in heaven goes' on all the same, and the heart of God is glad.