Luke 15 is one of the most inspiring chapters in the Bible.

The lost sheep, the lost coin, and the lost son are well known stories.

We’ve heard them. We’ve quoted them. Many have preached them. But sometimes the danger of knowing a passage well is that we stop letting the passage examine us.

So let me give you my take on all three in one sentence: Every ONE matters to God.

I don’t mean everyone as a crowd or humanity in general. I mean every name, every person, and every soul. Every ONE matters to God.

Sometimes we see the crowds, but God sees the person. Sometimes we see the numbers, but God knows their names. Sometimes all we can see is their horrible past, but God sees the individual made in His image and loved by His heart.

Luke 15 opens with tax collectors and sinners drawing near to hear Jesus. The morally messy and religiously unacceptable people wanted to get close enough to hear Him. But the Pharisees and scribes complained.

Don’t you know there is always a complainer in the crowd? They said, “This Man receives sinners and eats with them.” And to that I say, thank You, Jesus.

Praise God that Jesus receives sinners and fellowships with them. Praise God that Jesus makes room for people that religious folks have sometimes already dismissed.

We should never get so churchy that we become upset when God sends rank and file sinners into the house of the Lord. We’re supposed to get our hands messy. We’re also supposed to cooperate with the grace of God and love people.

So Jesus tells one sermon with three stories: a lost sheep, a lost coin, and a lost son. Three stories, but one big message: Every ONE matters to God.

God sees the ONE who wanders.

Jesus tells about a shepherd who had one hundred sheep, and ONE of them went missing.

Human math says ninety-nine are still present and accounted for. That is a strong percentage. If I were a pastor with one hundred sheep and ninety-nine kept showing up week after week, I might be tempted to say, “Thank God. Ninety-nine percent. Lord, I knew I wasn’t perfect.”

But that is not the heart of the shepherd.

The shepherd does not say, “Ninety-nine is good enough.” He does not say, “That sheep should have stayed closer.” He does not say, “That one knew better.”

He leaves the ninety-nine and goes after the one that is lost until he finds it.

I thank God He came looking for me. Some people talk about when they found the Lord. I understand what they mean, but I did not find the Lord. The Lord found me. I was lost. He was not.

That is the heart of God.

One was worth searching for. And when the shepherd finds that one lost sheep, he does not lecture it all the way home. He does not beat it. He does not berate it. He puts the sheep on his shoulders and carries it home rejoicing. Then he calls his friends and says, “Celebrate with me. The one that was lost has been found.”

Heaven celebrates harder than we do. Every time one sinner repents, Heaven rejoices. Every time one student says yes to Jesus, Heaven rejoices. Every time a lost soul is found, Heaven rejoices.

Because every ONE matters to God.

God values the ONE who is overlooked.

Jesus does not stop with the one who wandered away. He gives us another picture of someone lost in a different way.

A woman has ten silver coins, and one of them is lost. In the cultural setting, this was not like losing random pocket change. This was valuable. This mattered. So she lights a lamp, sweeps the house, and searches carefully.

The sheep wandered of its own accord.The coin did not wander. The coin did not rebel. The coin did not choose anything. It was simply lost. It had been overlooked.

And here is what we must remember: Every ONE does not get lost the same way.

Some people quietly drift. Some openly rebel. Some people get wounded by others. Some simply get overlooked. Some people are in-house lost while the whole household assumes they are fine.

That is one reason I’m evangelistic on Sundays. Some may think, “Pastor, I thought we were all saved by now.” I don’t want to be guilty assuming or presuming with valuable souls. Eternity is at stake! I want to be guilty of making sure people know they can be right with God before they leave.

Some people get lost while they are still in the house. And when something valuable is lost, you search carefully.

Some of us panic when our phones get six feet away from us. “Somebody call my phone!” And I understand. These phones cost so much they call them smartphones, and I feel dumb every time I look at the price.

But if we search that hard for a piece of technology, how much more does the Father care about a person who is lost, overlooked, wounded, drifting, or forgotten?

When the woman finds the coin, Heaven rejoices over one restoration.

God welcomes the ONE who comes home.

Then Jesus gives the most personal picture of all.

A man had two sons. The younger son says, “I want what is coming to me.” He wants the father’s stuff more than the father’s presence. Then, in prodigal fashion, he leaves home and wastes what his father had given him. He ends up empty, ashamed, hungry, and far from where he belongs.

Sin took him farther than he wanted to go. Sin kept him longer than he wanted to stay. Sin cost him more than he wanted to pay. But the turning point comes when he comes to himself.

That is a work of the Holy Spirit. When a person begins to realize, “I do not belong here. I do not know what I am doing. How did I get this far lost?” that is God working in the heart.

So the son decides to go home. He rehearses his speech. He knows he has sinned. He knows he is unworthy. But before he ever gets to the house, the father sees him. That means the father had been watching.

Even though the son was far from home, he was never far from his father’s heart. Even though he was out of sight, he was never out of mind. Even though he thought he had messed up too badly to come home again, his father was loving him and looking for him long before he returned.

The father runs to him. He embraces him. The son starts his speech, but the father starts the party.

“Get the robe. Get the ring. Get the sandals. Prepare the celebration. My son was dead, and he is alive again. He was lost, and he is found.”

That is the heart of the Father.

People are still the mission.

Jesus gives three stories with one big message: Every ONE matters to God.

The shepherd searches. The woman searches. The father waits. All three stories confirm the goodness of God.

But now the message has to move from the pages of Scripture into the hearts of God’s people. Since every ONE matters to God, every ONE must matter to us.

The Church of Jesus Christ does not exist just to please us. It does not exist just to make me happy or make me feel good. The Church is still here because we are still on mission.

People are the mission: broken people, confused people, addicted people, lonely people, and even the apparent do-gooders and moral sinners who act like they have no need of Jesus or salvation. These are the people Jesus came to save.

So here is the question: Who‘s your one?

Not your whole family, though I pray your whole family is saved. Not your whole neighborhood, though I pray everyone in your subdivision comes to know the goodness of God and salvation through Jesus Christ. But who is one person God is putting on your heart?

Maybe it is someone who has never known God. Maybe it is someone who once knew the goodness of God and has drifted away.

You may love them so much that you do not want to accept that they are backslidden. But if they have fallen out of fellowship with God and His Son, Jesus Christ, then they need somebody praying for them.

Even if you think they are too far gone and you think you should quit praying. Remember, there may have been a time when somebody almost gave up on you. Thank God He did not give up on you.

The shepherd went after one. The woman searched for one. The father waited for one. And God may be asking you to pray for one.

I’m simply asking you to ask God, “Who is my one?” Then be faithful to pray. Ask God for the right moment. Ask God for wisdom. Ask God to use you. It may not even be you who witnesses to them, but you can be the one who prays.

And maybe, before you think about your one, you need to realize something even more personal. Maybe you are the one. Maybe you are the one God is seeking to save.

Maybe you are not reading this by accident. Maybe this is a divine setup. God loves you so much that His Spirit is dealing with your heart right now.

God is not mad at you. God is madly in love with you. The same Jesus who receives sinners and eats with them still invites sinners in. So come home.

Dismiss every feeling of unworthiness. Your feelings do not trump the fact that Christ shed His blood for you. You are only worthy because of what Christ has already done.

His Body was given for your life. His Blood was shed for the remission of your sins.

Every ONE matters to God. And yes, that includes you.