Lost Sheep

20180204 Lost Sheep Jeremiah 31:10-11 (Opening) 10  “Hear the word of the Lord, O nations,  and declare it in the coastlands far away;  say, ‘He who scattered Israel will gather him,  and will keep him as a shepherd keeps his flock.’ 11  For the Lord has ransomed Jacob  and has redeemed him from hands too strong for him.  Introduction We have a cat. We’ve had her for about seven and a half years now. Our daughter found on the side of the road when she was just a kitten. She had her eyes open, but hadn’t been weened yet. There were actually two kittens, one male and one female. The mother had been hit by a car. It wasn’t long before the male kitten died, too. Our daughter used an eyedropper to feed this kitten baby formula until it was old enough to eat solid food. During that time, Marie went out to visit our daughter, and fell in love with this tiny ball of fluff that would fit in the palm of my hand. She called me on the phone and said “Can I bring home a kitten?” My first response was “Who are you and what have you done with my wife?” Eventually I agreed to the kitten coming home with Marie. From Louisiana. By plane. When she got to our house, I understood Marie’s attachment. The kitten was so tiny, so cute, and so adventurous. We eventually named her Amelia, after Amelia Earhart, because she liked to explore and usually got lost. Amelia has always been an indoor cat, but she was always trying to get outside for some reason. Maybe it was because of her adventurous spirit, maybe it was because she was feral. I’m not really sure. But there were a few times when she would escape the house through the front door, and would be hiding in the bushes in front of the house. We tried going out after her, but that usually just made her run further from the door. Eventually we learned that we could lure her back into the house with toys or snacks that got her attention. Since we’ve been up here in Maine, we haven’t had much problem with Amelia trying to get outside. That’s probably a good thing, because she would be completely lost, and I don’t know how she would react to the snow. She doesn’t like it when it floats in the door, so I’m sure she wouldn’t like being in a snowbank and would probably try to find someplace warm to hide. Context We’ve been looking at Jesus’ parables over the past few months, and for the next few weeks, we’ll be reading from Luke chapter 15. In Luke chapter 15, Jesus tells three related parables, one after the other, all about things that get lost or wander off. Today we’re going to be looking at the first of the three. But before we can look at the parable, we need to understand the context of what was going on, so we can understand why Jesus told these parables, and what He was trying to explain to His audience with them. As we start reading in the beginning of chapter 15, Luke tells us what is going on Luke 15:1-2 1 Now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear him. 2 And the Pharisees and the scribes grumbled, saying, “This man receives sinners and eats with them.” The Pharisees and scribes were bothered by the fact that Jesus was surrounded by what they considered bad people. They labeled them as sinners; well, tax collectors and sinners. Tax collectors were a special kind of sinners; not only did they extort money from their brothers, but they were in league with the Romans, collecting taxes from their fellow Jews and giving that money to the occupying forces who were oppressing them. Tax collectors were traitors. In some ways they were worse than the other sinners. The Pharisees didn’t associate with sinners. Sinners were ceremonially unclean, and if you touched someone who was ceremonially unclean, you would be unclean, too. So, the Pharisees isolated themselves from these people who were seen as those who were sinful and unclean. Jesus’ message was especially appealing to these people, the tax collectors and sinners. Jesus was preaching forgiveness for sins, something that these people desperately desired. The Pharisees only preached condemnation. In fact, there were disciples who fell into the category the Pharisees were complaining about. Back in the beginning of His mission, Jesus sought out a particular tax collector. Luke 5:27-32 27 After this he went out and saw a tax collector named Levi, sitting at the tax booth. And he said to him, “Follow me.” 28 And leaving everything, he rose and followed him. 29 And Levi made him a great feast in his house, and there was a large company of tax collectors and others reclining at table with them. 30 And the Pharisees and their scribes grumbled at his disciples, saying, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?” 31 And Jesus answered them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. 32 I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.” Even back in the beginning of His ministry, the Pharisees looked down on Jesus for eating and associating with tax collectors and sinners, even though Jesus pointed out that they were the ones that needed His attention more than anyone else. You don’t call a doctor if you feel fine, you call the doctor when you’re sick. As for eating together, well, that was worse than just associating with them. If those sinners touched the food it would be unclean, and then you’d be eating something unclean. In the eyes of the Pharisees it was a snowball effect. In fact, because of His behavior, the Pharisees lumped Jesus in with those tax collectors and sinners; guilt by association. Luke 7:33-34 33 For John the Baptist has come eating no bread and drinking no wine, and you say, ‘He has a demon.’ 34 The Son of Man has come eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Look at him! A glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ Jesus was talking to Pharisees here, and He was pointing out their hypocrisy. There was no satisfying them. The Story So, with the Pharisees complaining about His association with the tax collectors and sinners, Jesus begins His story. Luke 15:3-4 3 So he told them this parable: 4 “What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open country, and go after the one that is lost, until he finds it? Jesus’ story begins with something very common; something they would have seen every day. Shepherding sheep has been around since Adam’s second son Abel. Abel was the first shepherd. Cain was a farmer, like his father. We see shepherding throughout the Bible. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were shepherds. Moses was a shepherd. David was a shepherd. And shepherds were the first people the angels told about Jesus birth. Shepherding was one of those occupations that was looked down on. But it was necessary, especially because sheep and goats were the main sacrifice that the Jews were to sacrifice to God. At a minimum, there were two sheep sacrificed every day, one in the morning and one in the evening. Jesus’ parable starts out with a slam against the Pharisees. None of them would be shepherds; shepherds were poor and dirty, and they lived with their sheep. Pharisees were the well-heeled gentry. They wouldn’t stoop so low as to be shepherds. You pay someone to do that for you. This shepherd in Jesus’ parable wasn’t a hired shepherd. He owned his sheep, and he took care of his own flock. And it wasn’t a small flock. He owned a hundred sheep. I would imagine it would be hard to keep track of a hundred sheep during the long day of moving them from place to place to ensure they have enough food and water. At night, when the shepherd would bring his sheep to a place that was safer, he would end the day by counting his sheep just to make sure they were all there. This evening, when he finished counting, there was one missing. “Maybe I missed one.” So he counts them again. Still 99. Now he starts to be concerned. Where could he have gone? The shepherd is going back through his day in his head, trying to think where the one sheep would have wandered off. And he leaves the flock in their safe place and heads off to find that one lost sheep. If the hundred sheep were this mans wealth, he just lost one percent of his wealth. But it was more than that. When you spend all day with your sheep, you start to know them, and you care about them individually. They’re not just your possessions, they’re like your family. Like a dog or cat for people today. There’s a relationship there. Even with a hundred sheep, this shepherd probably knew which one of his sheep was missing and knew the personality of that sheep. Luke 15:5 5 And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. This verse shows the shepherd’s relationship with his sheep. It’s possible the sheep was injured, but even if it wasn’t, putting it on his shoulders was the fastest way to get to where he was going. He wasn’t going to wait for the sheep to keep up, and he wasn’t going to take the chance that the sheep would wander off again and get himself into an even worse situation. The shepherd’s search was successful, and he rescues his sheep from what ever difficult situation it has gotten itself into. But notice where he takes the sheep. He doesn’t take it back to the other 99. Luke 15:6 6 And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.’ He brings the sheep to his home, and then he invites all his friends to a party, celebrating that he found the sheep and it was safe. I don’t know how common an occurrence this was, throwing a party for a sheep that had been recovered. To me, this is the first twist of Jesus’ parable. But the next verse was probably the twist for the Pharisees that were listening to him. Luke 15:7 7 Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance. For the Pharisees, this would be a real slap in the face. They thought they were so much better than any of the other Jewish sects, and that their righteousness would bring joy in heaven. But Jesus says one of this group that were following Him around and listening to Him teach, when they repent and turn back to God, would cause more joy in heaven. The Application So, what’s Jesus’ point with this parable? Well, one point I see is that He’s telling the Pharisees they weren’t as good or as important as they think they were. Their self-righteous attitudes toward the tax collectors and sinners didn’t elevate them above them but was actually sinful. They weren’t helping or loving their neighbor, they were being hurtful. The Pharisees knew scripture. I’m sure they knew Isaiah, specifically this verse. Isaiah 1:27 27  Zion shall be redeemed by justice,  and those in her who repent, by righteousness. But they probably didn’t think to apply it to those people, the people they looked down on and felt would never be righteous, although that’s what repenting is all about. Like Jesus said in our Luke 5 scripture earlier, those who are healthy don’t need a doctor. Jesus knew these people needed Him, they needed to repent, and they needed His forgiveness. He also knew that when they did turn away from their sinful lives, and turn back to God, there would be great joy in heaven. But He also knew the Pharisees needed to repent. Their sinful attitudes made them like the wandering sheep, too. Like God said through Isaiah, Isaiah 53:6 6  All we like sheep have gone astray;  we have turned—every one—to his own way;  and the Lord has laid on him  the iniquity of us all. Jesus was there for both groups, the Pharisees, and the tax collectors and sinners. So, how does this parable apply to us today? I see two ways we can interpret this parable and apply it to our lives. First, we can interpret this parable where the lost sheep is a fellow Christian, a brother or sister who has wandered away. Maybe they have been wandering away a little bit at a time for quite a while, but we didn’t notice. Or maybe they stopped showing up after being really active over the years. People walk away from their church family for several reasons. Sometimes it’s because someone in the family did something to hurt them. Sometimes it’s because they were tempted by something, and it has pulled them away from their church family. Sometimes it’s just life’s circumstances that have stood between them and their church family, so they can’t get back together with them for some reason. Whatever the reason, we should be like the shepherd in Jesus’ parable and go looking for that person to bring them back. If there’s a sin keeping them from the family, we need to do what we can to help them turn back to God. Paul told the congregations in Galatia they should help the lost sheep. Galatians 6:1 1 Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted. The shepherd in Jesus parable had to walk through the same area the sheep got lost in to find that lost sheep. We have the same problem, and like Paul says, we need to be careful when we’re doing that. We could get caught up in the same sin that has led that brother or sister away, so we need to be watchful while we’re on our rescue mission. But overall, the benefit far outweighs the risks of failure. As Jesus says in His parable, there’s more rejoicing in heaven over one who repents than over the 99 that don’t need to repent. James puts a slightly different spin on it. James 5:19-20 19 My brothers, if anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone brings him back, 20 let him know that whoever brings back a sinner from his wandering will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins. The other interpretation of this parable is that the lost sheep is one of the “unchurched”, someone who isn’t a member of a church family, who doesn’t have any interest in being a Christian. In John chapter 10, Jesus talks about being the entrance to the sheep fold. In other words, you can’t be a member of His flock unless you enter through Him. He also says that He is the Good Shepherd, who lays down His life for the sheep. The shepherd in this parable hunted for the lost sheep through difficult areas, places where the sheep would get lost, and possibly end up being in great danger from wild animals or from falling. He risked his life for the sheep. But later on in John chapter 10, Jesus says something that many of the Jews listening to Him probably didn’t understand. John 10:16 16 And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd. There’s a lot of other sheep that are not in the fold, sheep that He is actively looking for. He’s out there, trying to bring more of them into the fold. He’s trying to convince people they need to change their lives, turn their lives around and walk away from the sin in their lives. His ultimate goal is to get all the sheep into the fold. But the sheep have other ideas. Not all of them want to follow Him as the Good Shepherd. They want to go off on their own and wander in the wilderness, risking being attacked by the wild animals that He would protect them from. Conclusion Like it says in Isaiah, we’re like sheep, wandering off on our own whenever we feel like it. We’re just like our cat Amelia. We like to explore, and we usually get lost because of it. Jesus wants to bring us back when we wander off. He also wants to increase the size of the flock by bringing in the sheep that are outside the flock. Maybe you’re not in the flock, you’ve got sin in your life that you never turned away from, and you haven’t committed to following Jesus as your Lord and Savior. If you believe that Jesus is the Son of God, that He died for your sins, that He rose again on the third day, and that He sits at God’s right hand in Heaven right now, and you’re willing to turn away from your sins, you can be immersed in water to wash away your sins, and as a demonstration of your faith by reenacting His death, burial, and resurrection. To enter His flock, you need to enter through Him, and by being immersed, you are dying with Him and being raised again, becoming a new person in Him. Maybe you’re in the flock already, but you’re having problems. Find another person in the flock and sit down with them and share your problems with them. There are lots of people here who are willing to help you. 1 Peter 2:24-25 (Closing) 24 He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. 25 For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls. 13