Parable of the Lost Sheep
Notes
Transcript
Parable of the Lost Sheep & The Lost Coin
Parable of the Lost Sheep & The Lost Coin
Lets spend a moment to recap this summer.
What is a parable?
So first lets go to Google. What is a parable?
a simple story used to illustrate a moral or spiritual lesson, as told by Jesus in the Gospels.
Parabole: parable, lesson, proverb, symbolic, figuratively.
What parables have we studied?
Parable of the Sower
Pharisee & the Tax Collector
Parable of the Talents
Parable of the Rich Fool
Parable of the Ten Virgins
Parable of the Unforgiving Servant
Good Samaritan
Parable of the Laborers in the Vineyard
Parable of the Rich Man & Lazarus
What are some of the themes of the parables we have covered?
I hope to close out our block together with one that can provide encouragement to us.
What is something you would never want to lose (something tangible)?
A blanket, a piece of jewelry, your phone, something someone gave you.
Why is this so precious to you?
What would you do if you lost it?
Turn with me to Luke 15.
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? 5 And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. 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.’ 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. 8 “Or what woman, having ten silver coins, if she loses one coin, does not light a lamp and sweep the house and seek diligently until she finds it? 9 And when she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I had lost.’ 10 Just so, I tell you, there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”
In these two stories we are going to see a similar storyline with the same truth being communicated. They have different characters with different emphasis but the point is this: something is lost and must be found.
Both of these stories begin with something be lost.
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?
8 “Or what woman, having ten silver coins, if she loses one coin, does not light a lamp and sweep the house and seek diligently until she finds it?
What two items are lost?
The sheep is one of 100 and it is missing. For someone to have 100 sheep they must of have had some wealth. Maybe not a ton but they weren’t poor either. And if you have 100 of something wouldn’t it not be a big deal to lose one? You have 99 others!
Someone looking at him wouldn’t really change their view of him based on having 100 sheep or 99 sheep, either way thats a lot.
Meanwhile the coin that is lost, it implies she might of been poor. This coin represented a day’s worth of food. That could be a day she doesn’t eat if she doesn’t find that coin.
1 sheep, 1 coin
1 man, 1 women
Both trying to find that which was lost.
They both do what? They search
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?
8 “Or what woman, having ten silver coins, if she loses one coin, does not light a lamp and sweep the house and seek diligently until she finds it?
The man leaves the 99 behind and goes after that 1 that is lost.
Sheep were pretty dumb animals. There is a reason we are compared to sheep. They would get lost easily, never really follow directions well. They were utterly defenseless. A blind man with no arms could track down and kill a sheep pretty easily.
And yet the man goes searching for the sheep.
I cannot imagine this was a fun task. You have to comb through the hillsides looking for a dumb sheep. You had to search and search all while being on the lookout for dangerous animals.
Hopefully they are strong like Samson who tore apart a lion with his bare hands like it was a little goat. (Judges 14)
The woman turns her house upside down to find the coin. She removes all the dust and straw from the house, she lights a lamb, gets on her hands and knees and searches for that coin until she finds it.
Have you ever lost something valuable? Or have you ever helped search for something valuable?
Perhaps its a missing child or a wedding ring.
Who has seen Home Alone 2? (the one in new york)?
What happens when the mom & dad get to their destination and finally discover they don’t have Kevin? They freak out. They go to any length to find him. They call everyone they can think of. They go to the police. They are frantically searching everywhere for him.
The mom gets on a plane and flies to New York City and begins walking around just hoping to run into him. As a parent I cannot imagine a fear worse than not knowing where your child is.
These two people are searching with this sort of panic. Over a coin and a sheep, but they are theirs and they despartely want to find them.
What happens? They both find that which was lost.
5 And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. 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.’
The man begins to rejoice—my sheep was lost but now it is found. After searching all over for it he throws it on his shoulders and goes back to his friends and neighbors. Come—lets go celebrate for my sheep was lost but now is found.
There is great joy!
9 And when she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I had lost.’
She finds it and rejoices! It was lost but now it is found. She gathers her friends and neighbors together and celebrates! It has been found.
So what does this mean? Why does this matter to us?
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.
10 Just so, I tell you, there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”
The God of the universe rejoices when 1 person repents.
The Pharisees are the 99—God could care less is there were 9 million of them. The 1 who was lost, the tax collectors and sinners, the one who repents, he rejoices and their is joy in heaven when that happens.
“Heaven rejoices over every repentant sinner because the sinner is of great worth to God.”
There is great joy and celebration when a lost sinner repents of their sin and puts their faith and hope in Jesus.
There is also great comfort in knowing that the God of the universe, the Shepherd, will go after every single one of his that is lost.
This is where we are going to spend out remaining time, I hope to encourage us some this morning.
Perhaps some of you in here have struggled with not feeling worthy. Not feeling enough. Not feeling like you matter. Not feeling like people care. You may feel like you do nothing but fall short. You don’t live up to the standard.
And I realize two quick things:
You will never be enough because of our sin nature. You are correct, we do not live up to the standard.
10 For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it.
10 as it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one;
23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
We acknowledge our inherit unworthiness. This sin nature infects us and keeps us short of God’s standard. So far short.
2. I also know that some of you have or currently do not feel like you live up to the worlds standard. You fall short of even those around you. Perhaps you don’t see any value in your life.
We know that all humans are created in the image and likeness of God.
27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.
In all of creation, God made all things and they were good but he created man & woman and it was very good. You and I are created in the image, in the reflection, of the creator of the universe. And there is great value that.
He knew us before we were even born:
13 For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. 14 I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well.
So I acknowledge those two things. But for the believer I think this parable provides great comfort. Both of them, but lets focus on the lost sheep for a minute.
What happened when 1 of the 100 sheep went missing?
He went after them.
At one point the Great Shepherd
20 Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant,
14 I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me,
Jesus is the Great Shepherd and at some point he went after you—you stupid, clueless, wandering, dead at heart, sheep—he went after you, put you on his shoulders and brought you home. And in doing so there was great rejoicing.
There is a popular song thats been out for several years now. Some of you have heard me complain about this song so I apologize but I think this is so important to consider.
The Chorus of the song goes like this:
Oh, the overwhelming, never-ending, reckless love of God
Oh, it chases me down, fights 'til I'm found, leaves the ninety-nine
I couldn't earn it, and I don't deserve it, still, You give Yourself away
Oh, the overwhelming, never-ending, reckless love of God, yeah
I realize at face value those lyrics are no theologically inaccurate.
The love of God is overwhelming, never ending. It chases after us—fights until we are found. He left the 99 to come get us.
We can’t earn it, we don’t deserve it. He gave himself for us.
But here is the problem. I don’t want you to think that God’s love is reckless. I have heard the arguments about how this means doesn’t make sense from our perspective, its foolish from and under the sun viewpoint. That is true.
Do you know what the synonyms for reckless is:
brash, carefree, careless, daring, foolhardy, hasty, ill-advised, imprudent, negligent, thoughtless
The antonyms of reckless are: careful, cautious, wise, kind, mindful, prudent
If you think for a moment that your salvation was the result of reckless, foolish, careless, hasty, negligent love than you fail to see the great value and celebration that happened at your repentance.
If you think that this love came rolling down like an avalonche and you just happened to be in the right place and it swept you away you fail to realize just how much the Shepherd cares for you.
The Shepherd left the 99 to go after the 1. He didn’t say you know what, I have enough, that one doesn’t deserve it anyway. He or she has decided to do their own thing and they are not worth it. They should have listened, they wandered off and deserve to be harmed.
No—he leaves everything to chase after and find, and bring home the one.
He left his throne, emptied himself, took on human form, died and rose again, to save you. And heaven rejoices when just one sinner is saved.
I know that his is not a reckless or thoughtless love because the bible tells us.
You were not just saved because you happen to be at the right place at the right time. You were saved because you were God’s, the Shepherds, and he went after you—the 1 that was lost.
It is the exact opposite of thoughtless.
4 even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love 5 he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, 6 to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved.
Before the world even existed he chose you, he predestined, predetermined, you for adoption, to be of the family of God.
You—if you are a believer, you and think of just what that means. The God of the universe has chosen you, and has gone after you, to be saved. He sent his son to seek after the lost.
10 For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”
And then we consider all that comes with that. You may not feel like your up to the standards of those around you. You may feel like you failed as a son or daughter, a friend, a husband or wife, a parent, a boss, etc.
But the Shepherd went after you, and brought you back, and rejoiced.
Consider all that that includes to be part of the flock, the family of God.
30 And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.
You have been called, you have been justified, you will be glorified .
1 If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. 3 For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.
You have been raised with Christ. You have new life, new meaning, the lost has been found, and are now with Christ in God.
Amazing Grace how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me
I once was lost, but now I’m found, was blind, but now I see
Through many dangers, toils and snares, I have already come
His grace has kept me safe this far, and grace will lead me home
As we wandered through the valley, he came and got us, saved us, and brought us back home.
And now he protects us. That shepherd protects all the way home, to heaven,
1 The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. 2 He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. 3 He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. 4 Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. 5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. 6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
We go back to Romans 8.
31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? 33 Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. 34 Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?
37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
To the one sitting here thinking, I am not enough. I don’t measure up. If you are in Christ. You are enough. God went after you. He knew that you were His because he chose you before the foundation of the world. He died for your sin. He rose again so death would be defeated and he went after you and brought home. And nothing can seperate you from Christ.
So as we finish the parables. We close out this series. I think there is two great encouragements for us.
The unbeliever. Jesus is speaking to you as plainly as he can to say you are not of this kingdom. Repent and be baptized, seeking forgiveness and mercy. Cry out and seek repentance.
Your salvation does not come from your traditions, your knowledge, your character, your family, your riches, your stuff, your benevlonce, your outward appearance. Jesus covered all of those things in the parables and time and time again reminded them that you are not saved. You are not right with God because of your Christianity or at the time Judiasm. You are not right with God because you look like a good fruit. You are not right with God because you worked hard. Nothing in my hands I bring, simply to the cross I cling. Not the labor of my hands could fulfill the laws demands.
We are redeemed by the blood of Jesus alone and you are not covered—you are still on the hook for your sin, call for repentance.
For the believer. There is great hope in the parables. We are not saved because of our actions or our work or our money, or our traditions. We know what heaven is like, we are prepared for when the bridegroom comes back because of the value that has been transferred to us through his blood.
And the Great Shepherd loves every child of God the same—he leaves the 99 to come get us and bring us home. We are hidden with Christ and nothing can take us away from that.