Lost Sheep

Posted by David Whitten on January 2, 2012 under Featured Articles |

Lost

Lost Sheep 01-01-2012

Luke 15

When we think about the lost we may think of someone who has never been introduced to Christ like from some tribe in Africa or someone who may have heard a thing or two about God but has never entered in to a relationship with the savior.

I do not think this is the perspective of the lost intended in these parables. The imagery offers an assumption that the sheep, the coin and the son have all have once been in their right place. The sheep once in the shepherd’s fold has become lost the coin once in the woman’s coin pouch has now been misplaced, the son once home now has wandered far from his father seeking to fulfill his flesh.

Jesus is most likely sending a message to his initial audience “the lost sheep of Israel”. These are God’s chosen people who have wandered from him. God has sent Jesus to the gather followers of his new Kingdom and to rescue them their burden of sin.                                                                                                  We can identify with this message because we often follow the same behavior of the wondering Jews he was speaking to. We come in to a close relationship with Christ and through life we find ourselves distant to the God we once held close and can feel very lost even though we know Christ as our savior. It is in times like these we often cry out to God “why have you left me? Where have you gone?” But the promise we have is “I will never leave you or forsake you.”

Ill: It’s kind of like the man in his wife riding down the road in his truck….

May we turn these parables in to a tool to turn our hearts back home.  There are generations of people who go to church Sunday after Sunday who can feel just as lost as those who have never set foot inside of church. If you are a “Christian” but know that you only wear the name then you need to hear this message. For those of us who have been “Home” yet for some reason or another found yourself far from your father’s embrace then you need to hear your father welcome you back through this series. You might feel a great emptiness but you don’t have to. You don’t have to be “Lost”.

Through the next 3 weeks we will explore Luke 15 and discover

1. how God Responds His lost sheep,
2. how He Rejoices over what has been Found and
3. how He Runs to the Repentant sons who have squandered all that he has given them.

The Sheep

Lets read the from our text turn to Luke 15:1-7

While you are doing that let me give a little background. If you trace back to chapter 13 we see that Jesus is making his way to Jerusalem and at the end of the chapter we see him making the statement  Luke 13:34 “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing!”                                                                                                                                                                                   He is preparing for what he will meet in the city. Most of his ministry from this point has been in the region of the Galilee now he moves toward the city of Jerusalem where he knows he will soon be put to death.  In chapter 14 we see Jesus is at the house of a Pharisee observing the Sabbath. Jesus notices the vying for the places of honor at the table. He takes the opportunity to ask a question about healing on the Sabbath and tell a parable about a Great banquet where the host sent out invitations to all his friends yet all of them has some excuse why they couldn’t come then he invites the city’s low life’s to fill his table. We finish chapter 14 with Jesus teaching the crowds about the cost of following him.

Now in front of a crowd of these teachers of the law and the city’s undesirables Jesus is ready to tell us about how God feels about those who have gone astray like these people that these “Law Givers” have rejected. Lets take a look at this short video before we read our text.

Parable of the Lost Sheep.mpg

¹ Now the tax collectors and “sinners” were all gathering around to hear him. ² But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.”

³ Then Jesus told them this parable: ⁴ “Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Does he not leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? ⁵ And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders ⁶ and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.’ ⁷ I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.

After reading this lets notice a few things.

1. Jesus eats with “sinners”

The first two verses open up the setting for Jesus keeping company with two groups of people absolutely despised by the highly religious sect of the Jewish culture.

Tax collectors and “Sinners”. Lets take a look at these groups of people.

• Tax collectors

They are a group of government employees who were entrusted to collect taxes from the citizens of Rome in the region they were assigned. They were known as publicans. Some tax collectors we might recognize in scripture are Matthew the apostle, Zacchaeus who was a chief tax collector that Jesus went to his house and ate. The tax collector was hated for several reasons. 1. They collected taxes from a people who felt very oppressed by the government. 2. Many publicans would inflate their percentage and become rather wealthy from the peoples money and 3. If the people didn’t pay their tax. The tax collectors would gather soldiers and come to their house and take anything of value in order to pay the tax.

These Jews hated these tax collectors and did not consider them fellow Jews because they felt betrayed for a brother to treat them in such a way. It was thought that these men had sold their sole to Satan in order to do such thing to their own people.

And Jesus eats with them?.. Why?

• “Sinners”

Notice in the text the word is in quotations. This is a name that was given to this group of people by the highly religious sect of this culture. There was the opportunity for otherwise good Jewish children of God to become involved in every kind of evil that could be imagined. Good synagogue going Jews did not participate in the living as these rabble did.

With the Roman influence in the city of God there was taverns, idol worship temples which included temple prostitution, gambling was prevalent which included betting on some sort of display of violence such as fighting to the death. There was much sin in the streets in Gods city of Jerusalem. The Jews who participated in these things or made a living on such lewd acts, were considered “sinners”. And they were. But Jesus spent most of his time with them.

You might wonder what kind of person would want to spend his time with such people. You may question his motives. You might even think he was one of them.

Here in v2 of our text we see the Pharisees and the Teachers of the law. Muttering “he welcomes sinners and eats with them”. You can almost detect a sneer in their voice.

These men were judging high above this crowd of shabby people. They were looking down their nose in squeamish observance of this self proclaimed rabbi mixing with these common people.

They were unclean, unholy and probably even smelled. It was as if Jesus were wallowing in a pig pen. No Jew would do such a thing but Jesus here. In the midst of sinners eating with them. smiling, laughing, joking, embracing and loving these people they hated.

These tax collectors and “sinners” gave the church a bad name. The Jewish leaders saw them as hypocrites. They thought, how can you even call yourself a child of Yahweh?

And Jesus’ communing with then in this way was discussing to them. What man of God does this?

Well Jesus tells them. God does. God not only walks with them but he seeks them out and invites them back home…. Puts them on his shoulders and carries them back home.

1. Jesus Tells them by telling stories. The Starts with a story about a shepherd who has lost a sheep

It is as if Jesus is responding directing this story to the sneering “experts in the Law”. He is painting a picture using the setting of this so thought “pig pen” he is wallowing in with these outcastes of the church. He is purposed in identifying these people as lost sheep.

He is surrounded by hundreds of these lost sheep that these Synagogue rulers considers as pigs. And he asks them

“Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Does he not leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it?

Jesus is carefully drawing a contrast between a Good Shepherd and shepherds who have neglected their flock.

A good Shepherd:

Remember David’s picture of the Lord, our Shepherds in the 23^rd Psalm? That is built on in this description that Jesus now draws of God. Rarely do we refer to this verse outside of a funeral service. This is most likely the most universally known Psalm in the world. Lets read this Psalm with renewed eyes then move in to Jesus’ words in Luke 15

Psalm 23 ¹The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.

²He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.

³He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.

⁴Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.

⁵Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.

⁶Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever.

The shepherd is clearly a picture that God has of his people. Here we see our God loving his sheep and guiding them and protecting and feeding them. He truly cares for these simple sheep.

Now Jesus introduces the idea of one sheep who has been lost. This same caring Shepherd goes and finds them

He is saying in essance that God will go above and beyond for those who are his. He searches for them. That’s the first thing I’d like to point out about this Good shepherd.

• Searches for his lost sheep

Unlike these Jewish religious leaders that he has entrusted to be Israel’s shepherds and teachers The Good shepherd reaches out to those lost tax collectors and “sinners”. He seeks them out. He does not shun them. He eats with them.

Now don’t get the idea that Jesus is condoning sin he is accepting the sinner. Not condemning them like the synagogue leaders have been doing for years.

Remember that story in John 8:1-11 about the woman who was caught in adultery? This is an example of how Jesus handled sin and the sinner.

¹ But Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. ² At dawn he appeared again in the temple courts, where all the people gathered around him, and he sat down to teach them. ³ The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group ⁴ and said to Jesus, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. ⁵ In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?” ⁶ They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him.

But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. ⁷ When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.” ⁸ Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground.

⁹ At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there. ¹⁰ Jesus straightened up and asked her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?”

¹¹ “No one, sir,” she said.

“Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.”

Jesus’ response to this woman was not a condoning of her sin nor was it a condemning of the sinner. He tells I am not here to condemn you. His instruction is the same instruction to us as we wander. “Go and leave your life of sin.”

I have good news for you. If you are feeling astringed from God today, I want to let you know that God has been searching for you. Especially if you are entangled with some sin that won’t let you go.

If you are feeling empty and forgotten. Won’t you know. He has not forgotten you. He is calling for you. Listen and hear his voice. For a moment won’t you soften you heart and let him in again. Can’t you hear him calling your name.

We have the idea here that

• When he finds it he carries it home

As a boy I one of my favorite pictures of Christ was this ((slide)Jesus carrying the lamb)

It was in a children’s bible book. It explained Jesus as the good shepherd who goes out and carries his sheep home. As a boy even though I had not yet excepted Jesus as my savior there was comfort to know that if ever I was lost there would be one to come and carry me home.

I didn’t understand the entire concept of that at that time but it is still comforting that God still searches for his children.

If you have been entangled in sin you might need to be carried, struggling with depression or consumed with anger or jealousy

The good news here is that he is looking for you.

I like the words to that great hymn of the church The Savior is waiting.

The Savior is waiting to enter your heart
Why don’t you let Him come in?
There’s nothing in this world to keep you apart
What is your answer to Him?

Chorus:
Time after time
He has waited before
And now He is waiting again
To see if you are willing
To open the door
Oh, how He wants to come in.

If you’ll take one step
Toward the Savior, my friend,
You’ll find His arms open wide.
Receive Him, and all of your darkness will end
Within your heart He’ll abide.

Chorus:
Time after time
He has waited before
And now He is waiting again
To see if you are willing
To open the door
Oh, how He wants to come in.

• When he gets home he calls his friends and Celebrates the home coming of this lost sheep.

Finally we see Jesus sharing the news with his friends that his lost sheep is found. He is happy and he celebrates.

Jesus tells his hearers that this is the response in heaven when one who repents.

This is the desire of God for us. He desires true repentance. Repentance is more than saying I’m sorry. Jesus taught us in the Sermon on the Mount as he listed the beatitudes. He said blessed who are poor in spirit and blesses are they who mourn. There must be brokenness over our sin and mourning that we have done sin

The broken poor spirit is evident of a broken spirit. David said in

Psalm 51:16-17

¹⁶ You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it;
you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings.
¹⁷ The sacrifices of God are^[c] a broken spirit;
a broken and contrite heart,
O God, you will not despise.

God wants to come to him realizing that sin is what he detests not the sinner and we must leave our sin is we are to have a right relationship with him. He wants us to literally mourn over the sin we committed. Realizing that our sin is a departure from Gods will and way for us.

We need to repent. That means a change of direction. That means leaving a life of sin and following Christ not to follow in our sin again.

God’s rejoicing is over the heart that is turned back to him.

Who wallows in the pig pen with the pigs, with these tax collectors and “sinners”? Well, God does.

He goes out with these people to show them an example of a good Shepherd who loves his sheep. He goes out to teach them that God

welcomes home the lost and rejoices when a  heart turns back home.

All heaven still rejoices when hearts turn back home.

What about you. Where are you?