One Person at a Time

Do any of you have friends that you know, they need Jesus, you know they may not be saved, y'all have never talked about God before, but when you have, it gets really uncomfortable really quick. Or even maybe they aren’t your friend, maybe they are your coworker that you get stuck with seeing every day. And maybe they are the most annoying coworker you have ever had. Lets picture this really quick think of the worst people group in that you can you think of, the group that rubs you the wrong way because you know they do wrong. They may say they know Christ, they may go to church, but when they leave, you know that you know their actions don’t reflect, those that don’t believe. Now imagine, Jesus sitting down and eating with them,

Were gonna see in this story of Jesus having this meeting with these people and see the reaction

Luke Chapter 15!

Parable of the Lost Sheep

Tax 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 sinful people—even eating with them!

3 So Jesus told them this story: 4 “If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them gets lost, what will he do? Won’t he leave the ninety-nine others in the wilderness and go to search for the one that is lost until he finds it? 5 And when he has found it, he will joyfully carry it home on his shoulders. 6 When he arrives, he will call together his friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me because I have found my lost sheep.’ 7 In the same way, there is more joy in heaven over one lost sinner who repents and returns to God than over ninety-nine others who are righteous and haven’t strayed away!

So in this story we have Tax Collectors, and are Tax collectors ever the good guys? are they ever seen in society as good people.

A tax collector is always after the peoples money and what the Romans did is that they would take and hire Jewish people, to collect the tax, so for instance. Its almost like if I told you every time, you came to church to give a dollar, but im gunna tax that dollar and ask for a dollar 50. Now lets say Wade told everyone to give him 1.50 every week. you would start to feel some animosty, and you probably go somewhere else.

But throughout the bible they are known for being near Jesus, these people that are looked at as the opposition, are with Jesus, hes with them, there with him. Its great

Matthew 9:10-11 “

Matthew 9:10–11 ESV

And as Jesus reclined at table in the house, behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and were reclining with Jesus and his disciples. And when the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?”

Mark 2:15“And as he reclined at table in his house, many tax collectors and sinners were reclining with Jesus and his disciples, for there were many who followed him.”

And then in this story we have sinners, but lets go beyond ourselves, and lets think of those people in our lives who we feel like deserve to get in trouble, we may think they need to be taught a lesson., some of the worst sinners were hung with Jesus, right a criminal. the thief on the cross, some of the worst sinners were seen with him, We have seen Jesus encounter this sinner of the woman at the well, and we've seen him encounter Paul before he turned his life around. These people with a terrible reputation, you have those people at your workplace, and in your life, that you know they do bad, they cuss, they gossip, they may be getting in alcohol and drugs, they may be cheating on there spouse, we all have these people in our life.

But here they are with Jesus Imagine those people coming to our victory, not only that but they are come Sunday morning and Sunday night so you can get a real good look at them. What would be the look on your face? would you say welcome? or would you say wow Im suprised you're at church? Would you be the one to invite them? or would you be the one to advise them to leave? Is your reaction to people negative or positive?

we see the reaction of the pharisees and the teachers

2 This made the Pharisees and teachers of religious law complain that he was associating with such sinful people—even eating with them!

Maybe we are that pharisee and the teacher, and maybe were thinking, these guys are pitiful, these guys are bad, they can’t change, there is no hope.

listen im guilty of thinking that. But we see the action of Jesus with them, and we gain some great perspective from it.

Jesus is the hope of everyone,

romans 8:24 “For in this hope we were saved.

even the person that we feel may is the worst.

Luke 5:32 “I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.””

Since he is the hope that we can have,

he is definitely the hope that everyone else can have too.

So we ought to have an eternal conscience of encountering everybody

You came to know Christ because somebody told you about him, we ought to not hold back in who we share christ with, whether it be our friend or enemy, or the one that makes bad choices

we see in Luke 23:39-43

Luke 23:39–43 ESV

One of the criminals who were hanged railed at him, saying, “Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us!” But the other rebuked him, saying, “Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed justly, for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong.” And he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” And he said to him, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.”

Everybody is worthy of the kingdom if they believe in Jesus.

Then in this story we have Jesus response, and he uses sheep, and sheep have significant value within the bible right. they were used for sacrifice

Numbers 28:4 “The one lamb you shall offer in the morning, and the other lamb you shall offer at twilight;”

they are used as a symbol to represent Gods people

Matthew 25:32 “Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.”

They were used for work and a source of income. David for instance tended the sheep.

but also we know that they can be, dumb not staying with the flock,

Isaiah 53:6 “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.”

We are the sheep in this story

“If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them gets lost, what will he do? Won’t he leave the ninety-nine others in the wilderness and go to search for the one that is lost until he finds it? 5 And when he has found it, he will joyfully carry it home on his shoulders. 6 When he arrives, he will call together his friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me because I have found my lost sheep.’ 7 In the same way, there is more joy in heaven over one lost sinner who repents and returns to God than over ninety-nine others who are righteous and haven’t strayed away!

Jesus wants us,

John 3:16 ““For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”

Jesus Carries us in life

Matthew 11:28–30 “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.””

Jesus Rejoices over us

Zephaniah 3:17

For the LORD your God is living among you.

He is a mighty savior.

He will take delight in you with gladness.

With his love, he will calm all your fears.

He will rejoice over you with joyful songs.”

We are the sheep in this story, So is the person in your life that you may not like, so is the person in your life doing the worst thing, so is your friend in that doesn’t know Jesus. They can just as easily come to know Jesus, as many of us have.

Jesus wants them,

He can carry them

He will rejoice over them when they come to know him.

So how do you view people in your life? For alot of us, it his hard to recognize that we need the hope of Christ, honestly look at the clothes some of yall wearing. And the house you go to, and the food that you eat, thank the Lord we know Christ still in spite of being catered to,,,

But then think about those people in your life who don’t have the same hope you do.

sometimes sharing the gospel is definitely necessary, but also we can invite someone to hear the gospel

I want to challenge you to this

Invite someone to church, in a couple weeks were going to have small groups, and regardless of how you feel about it, invite somebody, that you know doesn’t have the hope in Christ that you have. And if small groups isn’t your thing invite them to Sunday morning, I don’t care how they get here, as long as they hear the gospel.

lets strive to be a people that reflect Mark 16:15 “And he said to them, “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation.”