Parable of the Lost Sheep
Notes
Transcript
Me: How’s it going everyone. My name is Max, I’m so excited to be here with you all. I always enjoy coming down to Manhattan I love being here and you guys are just wonderful people! So i’m excited to get into it today with you guys! We ready? Wonderful, well growing up I grew up in a christian household however something started to weigh on my around the time I was 15-16. See I had prayed the prayer of forgiveness and making Jesus savior (which is incredibly important) really I got confused about what I was supposed to do when I became a christian. If all being a christian was, was being saved then Idk I got lost after that. I was so confused and while I don’t think I could articulate it back then, and hindsight is 20/20 I see now that I was going through a patch in which I just didn’t see the point of living life morally, or really doing anything I was “told” by my church friends, or parents to do. I was saved, I had done the thing so now what? Why would I do anything “good”.
We: And maybe a few of us have been there. Seen these things happen. Felt this in your bones, like man God what is the point. Why would I do this? Why would I do anything “good” if I have been saved. For me that led to living a fairly immoral life for quite sometime. See after I started to really question the point, or just did not have a vision or reason for living life the way God had intended it. So I rebelled, all the while still believing that Jesus had saved me from my sins. I started to steal things from little gas stations. Small things like candy bars and stuff like that (eventually I got caught), I started to smoke weed, drink, have sex with my girlfriend, watch porn, live in anger towards my parents, deal with depression and anxiety. All the while on Sunday I would come and feel a tiny bit of shame or guilt but really nothing, not confessing mind you, I would still even coming to youth group, help lead worship in different capacities, run sound and computer for things. I was an active participant at my church, all the while I was living hugely and deeply in sin. This persisted, once I got to college I thought man I’ll be better, I’ll stop drinking and smoking. (still have sex with my girlfriend) and because I had gotten caught stealing I decided not to do that anymore. I then got involved with a different campus ministry and honestly the same old thing happened. No one challenged my perspective of living life. I even got pegged to start leading small groups and being a leader there. I said yes being the good little christian boy I was, they had us sign a thing saying we wouldn’t drink , do drugs, have sex etc. which I was just thinking whatever, I’ll still sleep with my girlfriend and just not drink much. Then I got involved in a fraternity. And you know frats are great at a lot of things, pushing people to drink and smoke is something they are pretty good at. So did the things, smoked the weeds, drank the alcohols all, again while leading some students in bible study. Eventually something in me was like you can’t keep doing this. So I went to the director of that campus ministry and told him I was living in a way that didn’t abide by what they said and was basically like, I’m dipping man. Which, honestly I’m kinda proud of that I would at least not try to lie about who I was? I dunno still should’ve you know, stopped doing all the things I was doing. So I continued on this path y’all I was steeped in the fraternity lifestyle for about a year, and got further into drugs, alcohol whatever. I ended up in an hugely toxic relationship where we abused and used each other. Not physically necessarily but emotionally and verbally whatever. I was a jerk to her, and finally we decided to end it and even then I went out to drink with some of my brothers to “recoup” and went to this bar, I ended up at the basement of it alone and pretty sad, but was feeling good. I went back home (I ran home for some reason), got all dressed for bed and a brother called me. He asked hey man can you come pick us up? I told him nah man I’m pretty drunk, he was like dude we need you. I said fine. So I got out of my bed got some slippers on and headed out. I pulled up and spotted my brothers and they got into my car and one of them asked if I was drunk I said yes, he said he was going to walk. I turned right, and lights bewoop. Cop car pulled right up right behind me. The cop came up to my window and asked me for my license and registration. In both my haste and drunkeness I had left my wallet at home and my phone (which was were my insurance was) was dead. She asked me to step out of the car because all she could smell was alcohol. One of my brothers said oh sorry ma’am thats me, giggling all the while. I stepped out, in my white t-shirt and orange basketball shorts I had put on to go to sleep, and slippers. We went to the back of my car she asked me for my name, where I lived all that stuff so she could record it. She then said, I think its so great what you are doing for brothers, drive safe and your driver side headlight is out. I got back into the car pulled into a parking lot and we just sat there for a minute. In that moment I knew God was calling me back to him. Something changed.
God: I tell you all this because I think there’s something here, well obviously because its my story but something that God was showing me. Throughout all of that, He pursued me. and I want us to read through a few things that have really stood out to me over and over again. First. The Parable of the Lost sheep. Before we jump into this though a tiny bit of context. Jesus’ is sitting hanging around with some tax collectors (truly men who had betrayed their people, think like traitors specifically for greed, that was how many of the Jewish people thought of these people), sinners and the like. The Pharisees come and say man who is this guy that welcomes sinners and eats with them. We then pick up the story in
Then Jesus told them this parable:
“Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Doesn’t he leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it?
And I’ve had a lot of thoughts about this specific verse honestly. Like no, I would not leave the ninety-nine to go and find it. That seems ridiculous, and I think there is a part of that is indeed ridiculous, like man dude what are you doing you have 99 sheep that are back there and while part of this bleeds into the wonderful part of God that is a bit other from us, I do think you really would leave the 99. Picture it this way. Say you had a couple of dogs. One day one of your dogs runs away. Wouldn’t you go and look for that dog? Place posters all over, call your neighbors and friends asking to come help you look for it? All the while leaving your other dog safe at home? Right? We would totally do that. And then verse 5-6 comes which is just wonderful
And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders
and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.’
Man when we get back from finding our lost animal, pet whatever we are so excited! We have so much joy on our lives its great!. We bring people around us to celebrate, those who were helping us find said dog. And even further on in a different parable we see the same thing
“Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins and loses one. Doesn’t she light a lamp, sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it?
And when she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost coin.’
See heres a woman who has lost something valuable. Say you had purchased a one ounce gold coin, and lost it. Roughly thats worth 1800$ today if not more depending on the stamp. Wouldn’t you be frantically looking for that? and celebrate a little when you found it? How many of us celebrate (even if just a little) when we find our lost phone or keys? See at the end of both of these parables something amazing is said.
I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.
In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”
You: Maybe you were like me and had a radical time in life. Maybe you had something far worse or far better. Maybe you were different and had an much easier life. But here’s the deal, God was searching for me, that whole time. The whole time I thought man there is no point. Why would I care about God after being “saved” why would I? why would I? Because he first did.
We: God cares deeply for all of us, furiously, recklessly even. He wants us to come back to him. See I had ran away, much like the prodigal son which is in the same exact chapter. I took my inheritance and ran with it. I knew that I was saved and therefor could care less about what I did or continued to do. But God wanted me back. He called me back to him. In the midst of trials and troubles, in a place where man I should’ve gotten a DUI. I was no doubt over the legal limit. But through his amazing grace and pure mercy he let me off. I knew it then and I know it know that man God wants to have a relationship with you and me. And because of that relationship it leads us not just to a morally just life, but a life that is so much more worth living. Since giving up weed, getting drunk, the dating lifestyle, porn, thieving all of it my life has gotten so much better so much fuller and deeper. I have real relationships with people. And so can you. We can all have this, everyone of us. It just takes a moment and a half of realizing that what God has for us is more than a single decision, that single decision is so important, but he wants every decision.
