The Lost Sheep
Tonight we meet Charlie. In the TV show “Lost”, Charlie is a member of the rock band “Drive Shaft.” He started out as the good brother; he was just interested in the music, not the drugs, not the parties, and not the lifestyle. From this point life takes a downward spiral. Charlie is Lost.
All of us have times in our life where things seem to get out of control. We seem to lose our way. But does God accept us? God not only accepts you, he seeks you out.
Tonight, I want to show you how much Jesus loves you, as I have said throughout this series—no matter what you have done or where you have been.
Look with me at Luke 15:1-7
1Tax collectors and other notorious sinners often came to listen to Jesus teach. 2 This made the Pharisees and teachers of religious law complain that he was associating with such despicable people—even eating with them!
3 So Jesus used this illustration: 4 “If you had one hundred sheep, and one of them strayed away and was lost in the wilderness, wouldn’t you leave the ninety-nine others to go and search for the lost one until you found it? 5 And then you would joyfully carry it home on your shoulders. 6 When you arrived, you would call together your friends and neighbors to rejoice with you because your lost sheep was found. 7 In the same way, heaven will be happier over one lost sinner who returns to God than over ninety-nine others who are righteous and haven’t strayed away!
1. The Lost Sheep
Have you ever felt like the lost sheep? Weir all experienced this time in our lives where we don’t know where to go, what will happen next, or we are here. Some of you may be feeling like that tonight – you wake up each day and you realize that yes, you are still in Iraq, still in the desert – and you realize that you are completely lost.
In this passage, Jesus begins to talk about what it means to be lost and he gives the first of there stories about lostness – the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the lost son, we discuss a couple of weeks ago.
Jesus is explaining what it means to be lost in the language of the people of his day.
The people of Jesus day understood what it meant to have a hundred sheep and for one to wander off.
The sheep is grazing in the field. He sees a green patch of grass and goes for it. The sheep looks over and sees an even greener patch of grass and goes for it. Then the sheep looks up and sees the grand daddy of all patches of green grass, but it is up on a little hill. So he slowly begins to walk toward the patch. When he arrives he sees that it is everything that he ever dreamed of, until he looks for his battle buddy.
The sheep suddenly realizes that he is lost.
Can we relate to this? We are just like this.
You go into the DFAC, minding our own business and having a good meal. You spot the soft serve yogurt machine – yogurt is good for you so theirs nothing wrong with and you make yourself a single cone. The next day you pass the ice cream bars – well, of course, you need your dairy for that day. The next day, you see the Grand Daddy of all ice creams – Baskin Robins. And before you know it your are lost – stuck in the world of gluttony, and your battle buddy, well he’s at the gym on the treadmill.
We know what it means to wonder off! We joke about the ice cream, but the same sequence happens with other sins as well
Adultery, Drugs, Alcoholism, Pornography, gossip – You name it.
Our sin nature is such that even though we know sin is wrong we do it anyway.
Romans; 7:14 Says
14 The law is good, then. The trouble is not with the law but with me, because I am sold into slavery, with sin as my master. 15 I don’t understand myself at all, for I really want to do what is right, but I don’t do it. Instead, I do the very thing I hate. 16 I know perfectly well that what I am doing is wrong, and my bad conscience shows that I agree that the law is good. 17 But I can’t help myself, because it is sin inside me that makes me do these evil things.
We get separated from Jesus because of our sins. But Jesus is the one to go get us and bring us back.
Roman 7:24 continues
24 Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin? 25 Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord. So you see how it is: In my mind I really want to obey God’s law, but because of my sinful nature I am a slave to sin.
Our sin draws us farther away from the Savior, but he seeks us out to save us.
Are you lost tonight?
You can be lost – simply away from Christ. You have never found your way to Christ. He has been looking for your, but you have been running away.
Sometimes we are like my lost cat. CG will sometimes hide. Sometimes when she knows we are going to take her to the vet. Sometimes when we are going to put her in the same room with Sassy, sometimes, just because, she hides.
And when we find her – she runs. Sometimes to hide again.
There are those here tonight that are running from God. He comes near and out of fear we run not wanting to give up the life we have from him.
But your way have accepted Christ and even claim him as your saviors, but have wondered off from the faith. You behave all the right things. You even do most of the right things – You go to Church, you read the bible, but you have wondered off – and you are lost purposeless, and ¬aimless.
In both cases, we need to find the looking savior.
2. The Looking Savior
Verse 4
4 “If you had one hundred sheep, and one of them strayed away and was lost in the wilderness, wouldn’t you leave the ninety-nine others to go and search for the lost one until you found it?
Jesus is explaining how He seeks after each one of us. Which brings us to the point of the story itself.
In verse 1 and 2 it reads
1Tax collectors and other notorious sinners often came to listen to Jesus teach. 2 This made the Pharisees and teachers of religious law complain that he was associating with such despicable people—even eating with them!
Jesus told the story to respond to the Pharisees complaints about the people Jesus is spending time with. In verse 2, there is a word used “associating”, “he was associating with such despicable people. Tracing that wood back to the Greeks you get a word that is stronger then simply associating – but “welcoming”. Jesus is welcoming the despicable people. Not only is he associating with them – letting them hang around. He is welcoming – Jesus is actually happy that they are there.
And I thank God that he does welcome the sinners because that makes it possible for me to be with him – even in my sin.
Jesus is seeking out the lost.
I like the way the passage is translated in the New King James version.
Verse 4 NKJV
4 “What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he loses one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go after the one which is lost until he finds it?
Jesus says, “What man of you?” He is saying “what kind of person would you be if you didn’t go after the one that you lost?
And in response to the Pharisees, Jesus is answering their complaint by
“What kind of messiah would I be if I didn’t go aft the lost?”
It reminds me of Jesus as a young boy teaching in the temple. When his parents finally found him he told them in Luke 2:49
49 “But why did you need to search?” he asked. “You should have known that I would be in my Father’s house.”
Jesus is saying the same thing here. “you should have known I would be with these despicable people”
After all “I came to see and to save that which is lost”.
And he seeks us out - when we wonder away. He looks for us.
We all know what it means to lose things. I am the world’s worst at losing things, and at the same time I get really agitated when I do lose something – so moving out here has been on experience. I thought that I packed things that aren’t in my tough box. And the stuff that is in my tough box gets buried under other stuff.
But when I lose something , everything stops until I find whatever I’m looking for, sometimes I get to the point of saying, “Well, its gone.” But not after.
And Jesus seeks us out in the same way.
In Romans 10:20 Paul quotes Isaiah saying;
20 And later Isaiah spoke boldly for God:
“I was found by people
who were not looking for me.
I showed myself to those
who were not asking for me.”
Jesus is seeking to final all of us. Not all of us want to be found and refuse to allow Christ to find them. But Jesus is seeking us out.
He is seeking you out tonight. Al we must do is accept him and that makes us the located sinner.
3. The Located Sinner
Look at Verse 5;
5 And then you would joyfully carry it home on your shoulders. 6 When you arrived, you would call together your friends and neighbors to rejoice with you because your lost sheep was found.
The shepherds rejoice over the sheep that was found. And Jesus, again, uses this story because it is something that the people can relate to.
And it is a story that we can relate to. We all know how it is to lose something precious and then find it.
I think every parent if their children are old enough has had the experience of losing our children in the grocery store or somewhere. The children simply wonder off and the parent turns around and the child is gone.
Immediately that parent begins to look for the child. When the child is found they are covered with a rush of relief – which usually occurs just before the rush of anger.
We know what it means to lose something precious and then find it.
And that is precisely the message that Jesus is intending for these Religious leaders.
So that he ads verse 7;
7 In the same way, heaven will be happier over one lost sinner who returns to God than over ninety-nine others who are righteous and haven’t strayed away!
What the leaders see as despicable - Jesus sees a precious.
Precious as a sheep gone astray.
Precious as a coin.
Precious as a son.
And these despicable people are people whom he welcomes because they are precious to him. His desire is that they welcome him and return to him. What they world considers despicable, what the world considers trash, what the world considers worthless – Jesus considers precious.
So precious that he celebrates each one that returns to him. Each one that turns from their sins and follows him. He celebrates.
How do you apply this to your life?
You first understand that you are the lost sheep. You have gone astray and can’t find your way.
The second understanding is that there is a looking savior. Jesus loves you even to die on the cross in your place. He is looking for you to accept the payment as your payment.
And there you can be a located sinner tonight. You can come out in the open tonight with God and ask him to forgive all of your sins. You can be apart of a great celebration on your behalf. Jesus thinks that you are worth it.
After the service, I will be at the front, other chaplains will be around as will each of us would love to share with you more about finding Christ in your life. We look forward to speaking with you.
Let us pray.
