Sermon: Exodus 32:7-14, 1 Timothy 1:12-17, and Luke 15:1-10
September 14, 2025
Faith-La Fe Lutheran Church
Pastora Veronica Alvarez
Brothers and sisters, last week we talked about the cost of following Jesus. He doesn’t sugarcoat it or make it look easy. He says plainly: if you follow me, count the cost. Discipleship isn’t just adding Jesus to a long list of priorities. It’s putting Him at the center. Everything, family, work, money, our identity, our community, revolves around Him. And that costs. It costs time, commitment, and sometimes discomfort.
And here’s the truth, we all know what it feels like when we can’t carry that cost. When we lose our temper with our kids or our spouse. When we let work consume us. When prayer slips, or worship feels too heavy, or we simply choose what’s easy over what’s faithful. We wander. We fail. And the question that comes is: is there a way back?
Today, we hear the other side of the story. When we can’t carry that cost, when we fail, when we wander, God doesn’t give up on us. His mercy is bigger than our failures.
Exodus reminds us of this. God had done amazing things for His people, delivered them from Egypt, guided them through the desert. And yet, in a moment of impatience, they made a golden calf. They forgot all God had done. God was angry, but Moses stepped in and pleaded with Him. And in His infinite mercy, God listened and forgave. Even when the people failed, God opens the door to grace.
Paul experienced this too. Before he was an apostle, he persecuted Christians. He could have been rejected forever. But Christ found him, with grace and patience, forgave him, and transformed him. Paul says it simply: “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost.” If God showed mercy to Paul, He shows mercy to us.
In Luke’s Gospel, Jesus shows us the Father’s heart in two images: a shepherd searching for a lost sheep, and a woman searching for a lost coin. God doesn’t wait for us to find our way back. He searches for us tirelessly. And when He finds us, there’s no scolding, no judgment, there’s celebration. Heaven rejoices over every person who returns to God’s arms.
Do you see the pattern? People fail. Paul fails. We fail. But God never fails. God seeks, forgives, restores. That is the good news this Sunday: God does not give up on us.
Discipleship has a cost. But God’s grace is what allows us to live it. Let’s be honest: we don’t always measure up. We get tired. We get distracted. We choose what’s easy. But God never grows tired of seeking us, forgiving us, giving us another chance.
The sacraments remind us of this grace. In baptism, God marked us as His forever. Even when we stray, the water reminds us: “You are mine, and you will always be mine.” In the Eucharist, Christ meets us at the table. We come with guilt, doubts, or weariness, and He says: “My grace is enough. My mercy is for you.” This table isn’t a test, it’s a celebration, a foretaste of heaven’s joy when what was lost has been found.
As a community, this means we don’t walk the path of discipleship on our own strength. God gives us what we need to live it. No one here is beyond the reach of God’s grace. Just as the shepherd searches for the sheep and the woman searches for the coin, God searches for each of us again and again. The church isn’t a club for perfect people, it’s a home where the lost are found, the broken are healed, and the guilty are forgiven.
So how do we live this out? With gratitude and humility. Gratitude, because we’ve been found by pure grace. Humility, because just as God seeks and forgives us, we are called to seek and support others, to open doors, to make space, to celebrate the new life God gives. That can be as simple as inviting someone who is alone to church, listening to someone who is hurting, or helping someone who has fallen.
And here’s the urgency: this week, someone you meet will need to know that God hasn’t given up on them. Maybe it’s a neighbor, a coworker, even someone in your family or even a stranger. Be that reminder. Show them what grace looks like. Search, forgive, welcome, celebrate.
No matter how far we wander, no matter how lost we feel, God does not give up. God seeks us, finds us, forgives us, and celebrates us. This is the God who has marked us in baptism, invites us to the table, and sends us out to be seekers too.
Go from here knowing you have been found, loved, and celebrated by God. And go in the same way; searching for the lost, forgiving, welcoming, and rejoicing, because that is what God, has done for us. Amen.
