Pursue The Lost Like Jesus

Be Like Jesus  •  Sermon  •  Submitted
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If we want to be like Jesus we must pursue the lost like Jesus.

Notes
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Series: Be Like Jesus
Passage:
Big Idea: If we want to be like Jesus, we must pursue the lost.
Connect: Hide and Seek
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THOSE THAT AREN’T FOLLOWING JESUS ARE LOST
These three parables that Jesus told were in response to the pushback that He frequently received about spending time with sinners.
Look at verses 1 & 2
The religious leaders didn’t like the fact that Jesus spent time with and was investing Himself in those that were societal outcasts.
Tax collectors were considered traitors and crooks and “sinners” was a general term used to describe anyone that lived life apart from God.
And the Pharisees and scribes prided themselves of staying as far away from those people as they could.
They didn’t think that those people were worthy f their time or effort so they shunned them.
That’s a reason why they didn’t like Jesus very much. He spent most of His time with tax collectors and sinners.
But let’s not miss the point here. Jesus didn’t spend so much time with the tax collectors and sinners because they were good and had everything figured out. He spent time with them because they were sinful and needed direction in order to find their way to God.
And so He told three parables in order to illustrate to these religious leaders what He was doing.
And in each and every parable there is something that is lost.
There’s the lost sheep, the lost coin and the lost son.
vs. 4 “What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he loses one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go after the one which is lost until he finds it?”
“What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he loses one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go after the one which is lost until he finds it?
vs. 8 “Or what woman, having ten silver coins, if she loses one coin, does not light a lamp, sweep the house, and search carefully until she finds it?”
vs. 24 “for this my son was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’...”
8 “Or what woman, having ten silver coins, if she loses one coin, does not light a lamp, sweep the house, and search carefully until she finds it?
24 for this my son was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ And they began to be merry.
Jesus explained, through these parables, that those that aren’t His followers are lost.
What does it mean that they are lost?
Someone that is lost doesn’t know where they are.
Someone that is lost doesn’t know where to go.
Someone that is lost is often without hope.
All three of those truths are evident in a person that isn’t following Jesus Christ.
THOSE THAT AREN’T FOLLOWING JESUS ARE LOST
THOSE THAT ARE LOST HAVE VALUE
II. kkkkkk
We’re told in that God brought life to man when He “breathed into his nostrils the breath of life...” (2:7)
“All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.”
All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.
“Now the word of the LORD came to me, saying, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations.”
Now the word of the LORD came to me, saying, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations.”
All human life is a creation of God. And everyone of us is valuable to Him.
Read and yellow, black and white, they are precious in His sight.
That’s exactly what Jesus is communicating in these parables.
The religious leaders thought that tax collectors and sinners were less than they were. They thought that they weren’t worth their time or effort.
Why does the shepherd pursue the one lost sheep? Why does the woman pursue the one lost coin? Why does the father pursue the one lost son? Because they have value.
We’re tempted to think, “It’s only one sheep. You still have 99. It’s only one coin. Surely you have more. It’s only one son. You have another and he left willingly.”
It’s easy for us to say that unless it’s our sheep, our coin or our son.
Everything and everyone belongs to God. And He said in that He’s “not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.”
That’s God’s heart and it should be ours as well. Every person had value and should be pursued.
If we can see people as God sees them we will radically change our viewpoints and the way we pursue the lost.
Some of you have either experienced or know someone that has experienced the pain of having a child walk away from Christ and the church.
That pain is the way that God feels about every single lost person
THOSE THAT AREN’T FOLLOWING JESUS ARE LOST and THOSE THAT ARE LOST HAVE VALUE
Read more: https://www.whatchristianswanttoknow.com/24-pro-life-bible-verses/#ixzz5kc3uehGe
Read more: https://www.whatchristianswanttoknow.com/24-pro-life-bible-verses/#ixzz5kc3f5fJL
THOSE THAT ARE LOST MUST BE PURSUED
THOSE THAT ARE LOST MUST BE PURSUED
I think that we all can agree that THOSE THAT AREN’T FOLLOWING JESUS ARE LOST. And I think that we can also agree that THOSE THAT ARE LOST HAVE VALUE.
But, what we might not agree about is what needs to be done about it.
Our problem is not that we neglect the fact that people without Christ are lost. Our problem is that we neglect what should be done about it. We’ve adopted the faulty mindset that the lost must somehow develop the idea that they need God and begin searching for Him on their own. That’s not going to happen. If we want to see lost people come faith in Jesus we have to accept the fact that it’s our responsibility to take Jesus to them. That’s what these 3 stories teach us.
We’ve adopted the faulty mindset that the lost will somehow develop the idea that they need God and begin searching for Him on their own.
That’s just not going to happen.  As it is written: “There is none righteous, no, not one; 11 There is none who understands; There is none who seeks after God.”
“There is none righteous, no, not one; 11 There is none who understands; There is none who seeks after God.
If we want to see lost people come faith in Jesus we have to accept the fact that it’s our responsibility to take Jesus to them.
That’s what these 3 parables teach us.
Look at verse 4 / verse 8
We have a bit more trouble seeing this in the Parable of the Lost Son. That’s because we often make the son the focus of the story. But that can’t be. In the other two parables the coin and the sheep aren’t the focus. The shephered and the woman are the focus.
It’s the same idea in the Parable of the Lost Son. The father is the focus.
Look at verse 20
The example of Jesus

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. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.

5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, 6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.

Neighborhood Evangelism
We’re not waiting for them to come to us. We’re taking Jesus to them.
THOSE THAT ARE LOST MUST BE PURSUED
WHEN THE LOST ARE FOUND THERE SHOULD BE A CELEBRATION
See vs 6 & 7 / 9 & 10 / 22-24
Tell story of youth pastor calling kids forward for salvation and the instruction to applaud.
We can celebrate because we know what salvations cost.
We can celebrate because we know what salvation means.
If we want to be like Jesus, we must pursue the lost.
THOSE THAT AREN’T FOLLOWING JESUS ARE LOST, THOSE THAT ARE LOST HAVE VALUE, THOSE THAT ARE LOST MUST BE PURSUED, and WHEN THE LOST ARE FOUND THERE SHOULD BE A CELEBRATION.
What can we do?: Join the Father in seeking the lost and celebrating their return.
1. See ourselves as missionaries instead of hosts and hostesses.
Accept the fact that lost people are lost and that they need to be found.
Accept the fact that the responsibility of pursuing the lost belongs to each and every one of us.
2. Join our churches efforts to reach our community.
But don’t limit your pursuit of the lost to just this community. We’re around lost people all the time. Be like Jesus and go after them.
Joseph Stowell tells a story that’s very applicable to what we’re pondering today. We were on our annual Christmas trek to Chicago. Each year we brought our family to spend time with Grandpa and Grandma and visit the museums. This year we decided to finish our Christmas shopping at suburban Woodfield Mall. In the midst of all the fun and excitement, one of us noticed that little three-and-a-half-year-old Matthew was gone. Terror immediately struck our hearts. We had heard the horror stories: little children kidnapped in malls, rushed to a restroom, donned in different clothes and altered hairstyle, and then swiftly smuggled out, never to be seen again.
We split up, each taking an assigned location. Mine was the parking lot. I’ll never forget that night—kicking through the newly fallen snow, calling out his name at the top of my lungs. Unsuccessful, I trudged back to our meeting point. My wife, Martie, had not found him, nor had my mother. And then my dad appeared, holding little Matthew by the hand.
Our hearts leapt for joy. Interestingly enough, Matthew was untraumatized. He hadn’t been crying. To him, there had been no problem. I asked my father where he had found him. “The candy counter,” he replied. “You should have seen him. His eyes came just about as high as the candy. He held his little hands behind his back and moved his head back and forth, surveying all the lucious options.” Matthew didn’t look lost. He didn’t know he was lost. He was oblivious to the phenomenal danger he was in.
A few years ago I was at a Kroger and Elie wondered off from where I was shopping. I turned around and she was gone. As you can imagine, immediate panic set in. I began searching the aisles that were close by and didn’t see her. My mind immediately started racing to remember all the individuals that had walked passed me, trying to think if maybe one of them had grabbed her. I began calling her name louder and louder and looking frantically for her. I was just about to reach the point where I started to tear that store apart when I saw her. She had wondered over to a toy bin and was enjoying herself.
Two Points:
1. She didn’t even realize that she was lost.
2. I would have done absolutely anything to find her.
Friends, the lost don’t know they’re lost and we must be willing to do anything to reach them.
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