Sermon for Maize Quest Youth Event

Preached at Maize Quest on September 14, 2013
Adapted for Children's Sermon on September 15, 2013
Scripture Text: Luke 15:1-10

Well, here we are. Maize Quest. We’ve come together as youth from different congregations at this event to tackle that thing behind us. This year’s maze “Gladiator.”

Pretty much every maze has the same objective. To get from one end to the other. Now, of course, with a maze that’s more easily said than done. There are twists and turns, intersections where you’re not sure which direction to head. And you can lost very quickly. Once you do so, your purpose then becomes to get yourself unlost and back on track towards the end. To do this, you’ll use every tool at your disposal: your wits, your brains, your eyes, your ears, a map of the maze on your cell phone, navigational tricks like always turning left, and so forth.

In the reading from the Gospel of Luke that I just read, Jesus also talks about getting lost. But there’s one big difference in the stories he told and what you will experience tonight. A lost coin cannot on its own get unlost. It has no resources by which it can do that. A lost lamb is likewise stuck. It too cannot get unlost without help. Both of these must be found by another in order to find their way back to where they belong.

And so it is with us in life. We are “lost” in a sense because of our sin. We are broken by our disobedience to God. And it’s pretty much a given that a broken machine cannot fix itself. Just like the coin and the lamb who cannot become unlost on their own, someone else must do what is necessary.

That’s what Jesus does. He goes out. He finds us. He fixes us, and he brings us home. He does this by his life, death on a cross, and then his resurrection from the dead at Easter. He takes away our sin. He fixes what is broken and brings us home again.

When we enter the maze, I want you to look up. You’ll see a large wooden tower overlooking everything. Inside that tower are watchers, employees of Maize Quest, whose job it is to find those who get lost in the maze and can’t find their way. If that happens to any of you, you can signal them and they will come rescue you. In many ways, they are like Jesus. When we can’t do it ourselves, when we’re broken and lost and unable to help ourselves, Jesus comes and saves us. Amen.