Parable: Seeking the Lost (Sheep)

Bible Passage: Lk 15:1–7

Big Idea: God's Kingdom is a place of joy when lost people are found. Our job is to share God’s love and help bring others to Him.

ME:

Opening story about how I was the lost boy when my dad was out looking for me. (around 10 years old) playing at a friends house 2 house down.

the fear in my father as he called out looking for me.

Recall the reaction when he found me it was pure joy (but it turned into a grounding lol )

WE:

Have you ever lost something valuable?

Think about that feeling of panic when you realize it’s gone—a wallet, your phone, maybe even your car keys.

At that moment, all your focus shifts to finding it. It doesn’t matter if other things are going well or if you’ve got everything else you own safely in place; your mind zeroes in on what’s missing.

But what about the people around us in our homes or work or even church?

The ones who dont know Jesus or the ones who have fallen away from the faith?

Does it ever cross our minds how much the lost matter to God.

Maybe we avoid the thought because stepping out to pursue them feels awkward or too challenging.

But if God searches relentlessly for the lost, how do we treat people who need Him the most?

1. Two types of people

Luke 15:1–2 NASB95

Now all the tax collectors and the sinners were coming near Him to listen to Him. Both the Pharisees and the scribes began to grumble, saying, “This man receives sinners and eats with them.”

Jesus' ministry was for everyone (v1)

Vs 1 we see how the tax collectors and other sinners were coming to Jesus to hear about His teachings.

This is huge because the Tax collectors were the social outcasts of the days of Jesus. They were the worst type of person as they were seen as traitors.

Sinners in this passage were basically everyone else that the religious leaders of the jewish community saw as lesser than them.

This speaks volumes about who Jesus was. His approach to teaching was not one like we often find today.

He did not hide his teaching behind some type of pay wall or subscribe to hear more kinds of things.

He did not say that unless you fix yourself first you will never be able to obtain what I am teaching about.

He was loving and approachable. He was the kind of guy that you could share anything with him about. It did not matter if you were a tax collector or pastor or someone who was actively living in sin.

(t) He would teach freely and love eating and drinking with sinners.

Jesus is judged by eating and drinking with sinners (v2)

‌

Here is the contrast group. The Scribes and Pharisees

Both members of this group were often seen as the protectors of religious purity and traditions.

Yet how they reacted to Jesus’ actions exposed their true heart in regards to holiness.

They understood righteousness was about separating themselves from the unhold.

If you are dirty and a sinner you cannot touch or be touched by the righteousness of your sinful and dirty lives will make us unclean as well.

The heart behind the religious judgment is not pure… (spiritual pride)

In fact what we see with the religious leaders and scribes is deeply sad.

Here is God in the flesh who came down to earth to share the message of hope.

Spending time with the ones who are in desperate need of a saviour, they are like sheep without a shepherd.

They are drawn to His voice and He loves them deeply. He teaches them the truths of God’s kingdom that they might have heard from the synagogue growing up.

But this time it was different, the truths of God were spoken with all love toward them.

The religious leaders seeing more and more sinners and the worst of them all the tax collectors coming into the same area as them and Jesus the teacher was more than they could handle.

They had spiritual pride.

They were mocking how Jesus would eat and drink with them and not celebrate the fact that the lost were coming to the voice of the Great Shepherd.

‌(sadly this is still going on today. - story about a church that would not reach the lost)

How much God really has for the lost‌

Jesus was willing to cross the societal and religious boundaries to reach the people that needed Him the most.

(t) Jesus hearing what the religious people were saying told all people around Him this parable.

2. Pursuing the Precious

Luke 15:3–4 NASB95

So He told them this parable, saying, “What man among you, if he has a hundred sheep and has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open pasture and go after the one which is lost until he finds it?

Jesus’ powerful response to criticism

In response, Jesus doesn’t retaliate or correct them but leads them with a story.

He begins with a powerful parable they would right away understand—a shepherd and his sheep.

This story isn’t simply to entertain but to cut their misunderstanding of God’s heart for the lost.

Value of the one lost sheep

Jesus goes on to say that the shepherd leaves the 99 who are content on staying in the open wilderness to find even one that has gone away from the fold.

Losing one sheep is not a small deal either. That is the livlihood of the shepherd and could make or break the shepherd. So one sheep is huge.

This shows that Jesus is willing to go after even one that is lost from the flock like a good shepherd would, any shepherd worth his salt would go after any lost sheep as it has value.

Its like if we were a car salesmen and we had 100 cars in our lot and one of them goes missing we would for sure go looking for it leaving the 99 cars behind to find the one that is missing.

But its just a car… write it off… no its more than just inventory. a salesmen is responsible for the inventory and the care of it.

Let me reframe the question like this

Wouldn’t we act the same way if it was something dear to us—a child, a pet, or something valuable we care deeply about?

Urgancy of search for the lost sheep

when we look at what Jesus is saying here it is striking to see the urgency of the matter.

(story) When I was a young boy I was playing in wulco in Thompson with my mother as she was shopping for some clothing.

I had ducked under a circular clothing rack and thought it would be fun to play hide and seek.

My mother on the other hand did not find it too funny.

She was franticly looking around for me calling my name and after a few minutes they had called mall security and store staff to come find me.

I jumped out at her after a bit longer of this and I was laughing but she wasn't. She was at first relieved and saying how much I scared her… that quickly turned into a spanking and a swift exit to the store.

Jesus goes on to say that the shepherd leaves the 99 who are content on staying in the open wilderness to find even one that has gone away from the fold.

He does not say that he would find another pastor to look after the flock but he runs away in flash to track down the lost sheep.

Relentless in the search

(story) the more you get to know me the more you will understand that I love the strange and mystorious. One of theses is the missing 411 by David Polidus.

One of the things that strikes me is the stories that he has come up with and has put together a formula to missing people cases. and during these stories one of the things he brings up is the amount of searching the resuce folks do.

tracking miles and miles of bush or wilderness areas.

tracking dogs and helichopters and all kinds of things.

Jesus tells us in this parable that He is doing the same thing for the lost sheep. He is doing everything he can do find the lost sheep.

He will not stop looking for them, like my mother did not just give up after 5 min and gave me up for lost. She kept on searching for me until I was found.

Jesus does the same thing. He will not stop until we are found and it break his heart when we continue to edge closer to the darkness and the cliffs of life.

The search for a missing person in our world often pulls together extraordinary resources—K-9 units, helicopters, search grids—because every second matters.

Isn’t it striking that Jesus who is the God of all creation, using this same relentlessness for one lost soul? Not only does He go after us, but He bears the cost of finding us: bruised, battered, and broken on the cross.

We too must be relenteless in our searching for the lost, not to simply give up when we share the good news and it gets rejected so we give up.

To sum it up Jesus is saying in the parable “I will find the lost sinner like you find the lost sheep”

This might require stepping out of comfort zones—choosing compassion over criticism, inconvenience over indifference—but in doing so, we reflect the very heart of Christ. Like the shepherd, we must pursue the lost relentlessly until they are found.

(t) Then comes the party!

3. Rejoicing in Restoration

Lk 15:5-7

After such an urgent and heavy search, you’d think the story would end with the shepherd simply relieved to find the sheep—

but Jesus turns everything up a notch!

‌Now I think we might have missed something here in this simple passage.

The Shepherd didn't just casually walk down the road looking for His sheep.

No, he is calling out their names. (call out a few names of the people in the crowd)

And the Sheep is running around in the darkness, running over small cliffs, falling down, tripping over things.

There are wolves running around listening for the cries of the sheep who are lost.

They are sniffing the air looking for blood.

There are lions and birds of prey looking to eat up the the lost sheep as they run blindly in the darkness.

There are false shepherds calling out to the sheep who are out in the wilderness trying to trick them to come with them to be stolen away.

Yet here is The Shepherd calling out the names of all his sheep (call out the names of people again)

And the sheep hears his voice and comes running in the direction of the voice of The Shepherd.

Finally when the Shepherd is seen both come running toward each other and The Shepherd picks up the lost sheep into his arms and lifts it over his head and brings it home rejoicing the entire way.

There is Irony in the Text: A Subtle correction of the Pharisees

Picture it. Jesus says that every time one sinner repents, Heaven doesn’t murmur a polite ‘Amen.’

It SHOUTS with celebration—angels dancing, voices lifted in praise.

One lost person coming home is that significant.

Yet here, the Pharisees stood detached, grumbling while God’s Kingdom danced in victory.

The irony here is that the Pharisees would have seen themselves as part of the 99 sheep that were comfy and safe in the wilderness… but even the 99 need to repent and come to the Shepherd.

It is their religious pride that blinds them to how lost they really are.

The Community’s Shared Rejoicing

The shepherd doesn’t celebrate alone; he invites his friends and neighbors to join in.

This reflects the communal joy that should exist in the church when a lost soul is saved.

When someone returns to Christ, it’s not a quiet moment—it’s a reason for collective rejoicing.

This begs the question: Do we celebrate spiritual victories in our churches with the same enthusiasm as this shepherd?

YOU

So, When was the last time you celebrated someone’s spiritual victory?

Do we treat repentance and restoration with the same enthusiasm as heaven does?

You know The lost sheep is not just a symbol of sinners out in the world;

sometimes, it’s the one sitting in church who’s wandering.

Sometimes, it’s us.

But the heart of God is constant—He pursues, restores, and rejoices.

Heaven celebrates every act of repentance.

WE:

Each week we have the 90-Second Faith Moment that gives us a chance to share stories of spiritual victories.

did you over come sin?

did you repent?

did you share your faith?

let us celebrate your victory together each week.

In God’s family, none of us are forgotten sheep.

The Good Shepherd seeks every one of us when we wander.

He carries us home, battered but safe, and calls out to His people: ‘Come and rejoice with Me.’

So let’s live out this joy—not just for our own lives but for others. Let’s be relentless to pursue, quick to celebrate, and eager to reflect the love of the Shepherd.

Lets pray.