Who’s Your One? [Revisited]

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Me

SHOW ZAKK NAME GRAPHIC HERE. WAIT TO USE MAIN SERIES GRAPHIC WHEN REQUESTED BELOW.

So — like most of you — I carry around this little rectangle in my pocket that basically runs my entire life.

Twenty-five years ago — this thing just made phone calls. And you could play “Snake” on it if you were fancy — which — at the time — was a cutting-edge gaming experience.

But now? It takes my pictures. It reminds me I’m late to my seventeenth meeting of the day. It reads my email before I even want to read my email.

This thing is more powerful than the computers that landed the first human beings on the moon. NASA needed a room full of engineers and a rocket the size of a building… and I just need my thumb.

It can pull up any piece of knowledge in human history. It knows exactly where my kids are at all times — which is either comforting or terrifying — depending on the day. I can order food from it and have it delivered to my door without ever talking to another human being.

And — most importantly — it lets me watch an unlimited — never-ending supply of videos of cats knocking things off of counters.

And if I’m honest? I don’t just like having this thing. I’d be lost without it!

We

You know — we understand “lost and found” when it comes to our phones. If that thing goes missing — most of us panic. And re-trace our steps. We make somebody call it so we can hear it buzzing under the couch cushions — and we don’t rest until it’s found.

But somewhere along the way — a lot of us stopped believing that kind of pursuit applies to people. We think faith is something you go find — like it’s under a couch cushion somewhere — and if you try hard enough — you’ll track it down.

But that’s backwards. That’s never been how this works.

See — most of us picture faith like a search party we organize ourselves. We’re the ones out looking. We’re the ones doing the work: reading enough — praying enough — cleaning ourselves up enough — and hoping that if we search hard enough — we’ll eventually find God.

But that’s not the story the Bible tells. Over and over — Scripture shows God as the one doing the searching. He’s the One who shows up before we ever go looking. He’s the one Who moves toward us while we’re still walking the other way.

In other words — you didn’t find Him.

“HE FOUND YOU FIRST” GRAPHIC

He found you first. That’s why you keep going after yours.

At the beginning of this year — we kicked off a campaign called “Who’s Your One?” where we were all challenged with finding that One person in our life that we can pray for — have honest conversations about our faith with — and maybe even ultimately — invite them to church.

Some of you brought your One last week for Friend Day. Some of you were somebody’s One last week. And some of you are still sitting here thinking, “I don’t even know who my One is yet.”

SHOW “WHO’S YOUR ONE” MAIN TITLE GRAPHIC HERE

Wherever you find yourself this morning — none of this started with us going and finding God. It started with Him coming to find us. And once we believe that — it changes everything about why we keep showing up for the people who haven’t been found yet.

God

And that’s exactly what Jesus wanted His original audience to understand, too. This morning we’re going to be in the Gospel of Luke — Chapter 15. If you’re newer to the Bible — Luke is the third book in the New Testament — right after Matthew and Mark. And if you’ve got the Church Center app — you can actually follow along with today’s sermon notes. There’s a link there for you as soon as you open the app.

So here’s the setting: Jesus has been spending time with tax collectors and sinners — the people that the religious crowd had written off. And the religious leaders aren’t happy about it.

Exposition

v. 1-2

Look at how Luke sets the scene — starting in Verses 1 and 2:

Luke 15:1–2 CSB

1 All the tax collectors and sinners were approaching to listen to him. 2 And the Pharisees and scribes were complaining, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.”

Notice who’s in the room here. The people everybody else had given up on are the ones leaning in to hear Jesus. And the Pharisees — the religious leaders — these people who were supposed to know God best are the ones standing off to the side — with their arms crossed — offended that He’d even sit at that table.

v. 3-4

So Jesus does what He always does when people misunderstand who God is — He tells a story. Look at Verses 3 and 4:

Luke 15:3–4 CSB

3 So he told them this parable: 4 “What man among you, who has a hundred sheep and loses one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open field and go after the lost one until he finds it?

Think about this picture Jesus is painting here. A hundred sheep — and one wanders off. And the shepherd doesn’t shrug it off as an acceptable loss. He doesn’t hang around the gate — hoping it eventually wanders its way back in.

He leaves the 99 — in the open field — exposed — and un-guarded — and he goes.

Now this sounds absolutely absurd to the people listening to Jesus talk. That isn’t what people did. That’s not what a smart shepherd does. That’s not good math. 99 is a good night. One sheep isn’t worth all that risk. Unless that one sheep is worth everything to you.

And can we just talk about sheep for a minute? They are not known for being smart animals. They’ll walk off a cliff following the sheep in front of them. They’ll get stuck on their backs and just lay there until they die. A sheep doesn’t have an exit strategy!

And that’s the image Jesus picks to describe us. Which is humbling — frankly — but it’s also good news. Because the Shepherd doesn’t go looking for that sheep because it’s impressive. He goes because it’s His.

And here’s the thing — Jesus isn’t making this up on the spot. He’s deliberately bringing up a promise God made centuries earlier — and the Pharisees would’ve known it.

Look at Ezekiel 34:

Ezekiel 34:11–12 CSB

11 “ ‘For this is what the Lord God says: See, I myself will search for my flock and look for them. 12 As a shepherd looks for his sheep on the day he is among his scattered flock, so I will look for my flock. I will rescue them from all the places where they have been scattered on a day of clouds and total darkness.

This is what theologians call “Prevenient Grace” — and it’s a fancy term for a simple idea: it is grace that goes before you. Grace that starts moving toward you — before you ever start moving toward it. In other words — before you ever look for the shepherd — the Shepherd is already out looking for you.

Remember what we said a minute ago? We didn’t organize the search party. He did.

And by the way — I’d love to know what the 99 thought about this. Somewhere out there — a sheep is going, “So we’re just… out here now? Unsupervised? Great.”

v. 5-6

Let’s keep reading. Verses 5 and 6 of our passage:

Luke 15:5–6 CSB

5 When he has found it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders, 6 and coming home, he calls his friends and neighbors together, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, because I have found my lost sheep!’

Now — I want you to catch what the shepherd doesn’t do here.

He doesn’t find that sheep and go, “Well look who decided to show up.” He doesn’t lecture it on the whole walk home. He doesn’t say, “Do you know how much this cost me!? Do you have any idea what I had to leave behind for you!?”

He doesn’t even make the sheep walk!

He picks it up — joyfully — and he carries it.

And listen — I’ve never carried a sheep — but I have carried a sleeping five-year-old from the car to the bed — and I can tell you they get roughly 40 pounds heavier from the moment they fall asleep.

A grown sheep runs somewhere between a hundred and two hundred pounds. That’s not a light walk home. And it’s not a convenient trip.

But the shepherd isn’t complaining — he is rejoicing.

And here’s why this matters. Because some of you have been carrying around a version of God who finds you — and then makes you feel terrible about needing to be found. Some of you grew up with a picture of a God who’s technically willing to take you back — but He’s gonna bring it up at every family gathering for the next 30 years.

That’s not this God.

This Shepherd finds what was lost and throws it over His shoulders — glad to have it back. There’s no shame walk. No probation period. He doesn’t say, “let’s see if you can keep your act together this time.”

And not only that — but this passage tells us He throws a party when He gets back home! He calls the neighbors. Which — let’s be honest — is a little dramatic for one sheep.

If I knock on my neighbor’s door at ten o’clock at night and say, “Come celebrate — because I found my sheep,” they’re gonna call somebody about me. Probably the cops.

But that’s the point. Heaven’s response to one person being found isn’t a polite nod — it’s a party. A celebration. And that’s the picture of us — when we come home to Him.

v. 7

Here’s the why. Look with me at Verse 7:

Luke 15:7 CSB

7 I tell you, in the same way, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous people who don’t need repentance.

More joy over one. Not the 99 who have their lives together. Not more joy for the people who never wandered — and never doubted — never made a mess out of things. But one.

And that’s the thing Jesus is saying to those religious leaders standing off to the side with their arms crossed. They were doing the math on who deserved a seat at the table — and Jesus is telling them Heaven is throwing a party over exactly the people they’d written off.

And by the way — Jesus is being a little sarcastic here. There’s no such thing as 99 people who don’t need repentance. He’s holding a mirror up to the guys with their arms crossed.

Here’s what I want you to hear this morning:

“YOU HAVE NEVER BEEN THE 99” GRAPHIC

You have never been the ninety-nine to God. Not once. You’ve always been the one He’d leave everything to go find.

You

So — what do we do with that?

Because it’s one thing to hear that God came looking for you. But it’s another to let it change how we live on Monday.

And I want to talk to three different people in this room — one of these is you.

**

Some of you here have never been found — or you’ve never let yourself be.

Maybe you’re here because somebody invited you last week and you figured you’d come back and see if it holds up. Or maybe you’ve been coming for years and you’ve never actually been found.

And maybe part of you is thinking, “Yeah, but you don’t know what I’ve done. You don’t know what I’ve walked away from.”

But here’s what the Shepherd never once says in this passage today: “That one’s too far out.”

He doesn’t set a boundary on the field. He doesn’t say, “Well, I’ll go a mile — but no further.”

This passage says He goes after it until He finds it. There’s no expiration date on that pursuit.

That’s what the Gospel is all about. Jesus didn’t give you a map to come home to God — He came to be the One who goes and gets you. He went all the way to the Cross to do it. The Shepherd didn’t just leave the 99 — He laid down His life for the one.

And Jesus makes this explicit in John Chapter 10 — when He says:

John 10:14–15 CSB

14 “I am the good shepherd. I know my own, and my own know me, 15 just as the Father knows me, and I know the Father. I lay down my life for the sheep.

If that’s you this morning — you don’t have to get your life together first. You don’t even need to understand anything first. You just need to stop running.

**

Maybe some of you already brought your One — and it didn’t go how you hoped.

You prayed for weeks. You worked up the nerve. You sent the text you re-wrote four times before hitting send.

And maybe they came — and said, “Oh, that was nice,” and then nothing changed. Or maybe they didn’t come at all.

Or they came — and you spent the entire service watching their face out of the corner of your eye trying to see whether or not it was landing. Don’t do that — by the way. It’s very distracting. I can see you.

Here’s what I want you to hear: the Shepherd didn’t stop at reaching the sheep.

He picked it up and carried it all the way home. Finding it was the beginning of the trip — not the end of it.

So this week — don’t disappear. Follow up. Send the text that says, “Hey, I’m glad you came.” Ask them to lunch. Ask them what they thought — and then actually listen instead of defending. Because that one invitation is just the beginning of a journey with our One.

**

And for some of you — you’re just exhausted — and honestly — you’re not even sure you have another round of this in you.

You’ve been praying for the same person for years. You’ve had the conversations. You’ve been patient. And nothing has moved.

And somewhere along the way — this started feeling like a job performance to you — like if your One doesn’t come to faith — then you’ve failed.

But let me take something off of you. You are not the Shepherd. You’re a sheep who got found and now walks alongside the Shepherd while He does the finding.

Your job isn’t to save anybody. You can’t. Only Jesus can do that. Your job is to keep loving — and keep praying — and keep showing up. And to trust that the same God who wouldn’t quit on you isn’t quitting on them either. Because you are the evidence that rescue happens!

**

So here’s what I’m asking of every single one of us this week. Three simple things. And if you’ve done these things with your One already — do them again.

First — write down a name. If you already have one — write it again. If you brought them last week — write it again.

Second — pray for that name every day this week. It doesn’t have to be a long prayer. It can be as simple as saying, “Lord — find them the way you found me.”

And third — take one step toward them before next Sunday. A single text. Or lunch. Or just an honest statement about what God’s doing in your life. That’s it!

That’s what disciples do. We live our lives following God — and invite others along on that journey.

We

I want to be honest with you about why this matters so much to me — and why we keep coming back to it.

There is a version of the Christian life that’s mostly about maintenance. You show up. You give. You serve in the nursery when they’re desperate enough to ask twice. You’re a good person. You don’t cause trouble. And hear me — there’s nothing wrong with that.

But that’s not what a disciple is. A disciple is somebody who was found — and never got over it. That’s the difference. Not the volume of activity. Not how many church services you attend or how much of the Bible you know. It’s whether the fact that God came looking for you is still doing something in you — or whether it’s become an old story you tell about something that happened a long time ago.

Because here’s what I’ve seen in ministry over the years: when people forget they were found — they get comfortable. And when they get comfortable — other people become background noise. Co-workers become people you tolerate. The neighbor becomes a wave from the driveway. Your brother-in-law becomes somebody you avoid at Thanksgiving.

But when you remember what it cost the Shepherd to come get you — you can’t look at people the same way. You start seeing that person in the next cubicle as somebody Jesus would leave everything to go find. And you start realizing that your One isn’t a project you’re working on — they’re a person Heaven is already looking for.

And I’ll tell you something else. This is not going to be convenient. Following-up with your One is going to cost you a Saturday. It’s going to cost you an awkward conversation you’d rather not have. It’s going to cost you the risk of being told no — or being asked a question you don’t know how to answer.

The Shepherd’s trip wasn’t convenient either. He left 99 sheep unguarded in an open field and hiked into the dark carrying nothing but the willingness to go get One.

And He did that for each of us.

So when it’s inconvenient — when you’re tired — when you’ve prayed for the same person for three years straight and nothing has moved — remember the cost. Remember that somebody left the field for you. That somebody carried you home when you couldn’t walk yourself.

Friends that’s not a guilt trip. It’s the whole reason any of us are still here.

Call to Repentance

If you’re sitting here this morning and you’ve never been found — if you’ve spent your whole life organizing your own search party and you’re tired — Jesus isn’t standing at the edge of the field waiting to see if you’ll come back. He’s already out looking for you.

He went to a Cross to come get you. All you have to do is stop running. If that’s you — I or one of our Associate Pastors would love to talk with you. Don’t leave here today without letting somebody know. And there is no version of that conversation where you get lectured. There’s only the party.

And for the rest of us — that name you wrote down… don’t put it in a drawer. That’s not just a name on a card. That’s somebody the Shepherd is already headed toward.

He found you first. That’s why you keep going after yours.

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