Passion to Save the Lost Part 1

What’s a Sheep Worth

Prior to the parable of the “Prodigal Son”, Jesus precedes it with two other preliminary parables that set the stage. We find them both in Luke chapter 15.

Luke 15:1–7 ESV

Now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear him. And the Pharisees and the scribes grumbled, saying, “This man receives sinners and eats with them.” So he told them this parable: “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? And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. 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.’ 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.

As Jesus began to teach, not in a synagogue but in the general public, the words He used began to draw the outcast and sinners. So, what is a sinner and who did the religious leaders consider sinners?

The word comes from the Hebrew word chatta’ חַטָּא meaning a criminal, or one accounted guilty -- an offender, sinful, sinner. It is derived from it’s root (chata’ חָטָא) which means one who has sinned, gone the wrong way, incurred guilt and is condemned.

Contextually, a sinner is one who has transgressed the Law of God, gone astray from His presence and way, and refuses to repent and be reconciled to the Father. But I can tell you that there are days that I do not have to sin to feel unworthy. There are days that I feel like I am unqualified and fear failure due to the weight of being a pastor, husband and father. Why? Because I never forget that I am a mere man. In all humility, my flesh is just that, it is flesh and must stay in check at all times.

So many have been taught doctrinally that “We are all sinners”. That single line has been so abused to justify willfully living a sinful lifestyle that abused the goodness, mercy, grace and justness of a Holy God. But I will agree that even the most righteous among us can have days that we feel the weight of this sinful life and world around us. Each of us can face the reality of the flesh that seeks to cause us as sheep to up and run in our own direction.

Now you can understand the draw Jesus brought to draw them into His merciful welcoming. It is important to understand the background context of this parable instead of applying our own. Jesus was admonishing the Pharisees regarding their discipleship qualifications. Even Jesus’ disciples had been rejected in their rabbinical talmidim process by the religious leaders. Jesus’ rebuke of the Pharisee’s exclusivity to the Word of God did not push the outcast and sinners away but drew them to Himself.

In response to Jesus’ rebuke the Pharisees make an accusation or charge against Jesus that actually indicts themselves. You see, the Pharisees had divided everyone into two classes of people, the righteous and unclean, to the point that they excluded those they deemed as non-righteous and not worthy of hearing the way of Adonai (Morris).

(Morris, Leon L. "Luke: An Introduction and Commentary" (Tyndale New Testament Commentaries) (Leicester, England: Inter-Varsity Press, 1988)

In essence, they were withholding the Law of God and making themselves as gods to decide who was worthy of God’s favor and who was not.

Jesus’ parable of the “Lost Sheep” reveals not only the value of a single sinners soul but also the compassion of the Father for those who are “helpless” (‘erom עֵירֹם meaning naked or without covering; or yathom יָתוֹם meaning orphaned or fatherless).

The Pharisees include in their accusation that Jesus ate with these outcast and sinners. The indictment is not just one of fellowship but of breaking the bread or teaching them the way of righteousness. But there is an even greater point Jesus is making, not only to the rejected Jewish sheep but the lost Gentile sheep as well. Jesus uses this parable in a way that the Pharisees would have recognized turning the accusation back around to them yet giving even them a chance to repent.

Jeremiah 50:6 ESV

“My people have been lost sheep. Their shepherds have led them astray, turning them away on the mountains. From mountain to hill they have gone. They have forgotten their fold.

Psalm 119:176 ESV

I have gone astray like a lost sheep; seek your servant, for I do not forget your commandments.

The Prophet Jeremiah speaks of these pious and self-righteous leaders who have forgotten the essence of the promise of God to Abraham. They have lost sight of why God even brought them out of Egypt, gave them the Tabernacle and the Torah (foundational instructions for life and relationship with each other and God). This Jesus has come to set right.

The Psalmist states that “like a sheep” he as a man has sinned against God and feels like he is far from God and no longer belongs to Him. He pleads with the Good Shepherd to seek him out, to not abandon him and leave him as a stray and orphaned man. In his plea of repentance he cries to God, “I have not forgotten Your ways Oh Lord.”

To the Pharisees, sheep were expendable and only worth what they could profit from them. But to Jesus, every sheep was the most valuable in the Father’s Kingdom. Contrary to most people’s interpretation of the parable, the Shepherd did not abandon the 99 (the Jews) to go save the one (Gentile), but He secured the 99 then sought out the one. I was that one. I was lost but He found me and brought me in. Raised in a Christian home, I too lost my way. But God sought me out in a most unlikely place. The encounter I had with Jesus was simple and really not supernatural but very real. It was not emotional but convicting. The Holy Spirit simply reminded me of the life I was called to live in contrast to that which I was living. He simply revealed to me, in light of who the God of my father was, the selfishness of my own life, heart, thinking and choices. As a young man everything in my life was about my plans, what I would be and do, what pleased me, what I wanted. From my education and military to my marriage and future plans for recognition, promotion and wealth, it was all about me. And in that one moment of my encounter with God, I saw Jesus, the heart of my father, and my heart’s selfishness. And it was so sinful. I never want to be that man again, not even in ministry.

For all of us, let us have the same passionate value for every lost sheep. Let us not be like the Pharisees and take it upon ourselves to decide who is and who is not worthy of Father’s mercy.

For the sheep of the Lord, where are you sheep? Do you know the Good Shepherd is seeking you out? You are not so lost that He cannot find you.

If you are feeling the results of the voice of sin, the fear of failure and disappointment, the drawing of the spirit of isolation from the flock, know that you are worth so much to the Father and He wants to throw you on His shoulders and rejoice over you. What makes you worthy is the Father’s value of your soul. He has made you worthy.