The Searching Shepherd

[intro]

A lot of things about the Bible can be particularly hard pills to swallow. “The first shall be last;” “it is better to give than to receive;” “the Word became flesh and dwelt among us”…but all of these are important and carry their own weight. But to me, one of the most difficult and offensive pills to swallow is the constant reference to humanity as sheep. I don’t know how much you know about sheep - but sheep are about as dumb as it gets.

Illustration:

There was a story that ran in USA Today back in 2005 from Istanbul, Turkey. Here is what happened, a group of shepherds had brought their sheep to a hillside to graze. Once all the sheep seemed to be settled in, the shepherds went off a little ways and took a seat to have breakfast as they watched the sheep from a distance.

Thats when things went downhill..literally. One sheep walked up to the edge of the cliff on the other side of the hill and decide now was a good time to test out his theory of flight…and he jumped. Now, I know that one sheep going off a cliff isn’t that big of a deal. And it wouldn’t be! Except that it just took that one sheep to jump off the side that gave the flock the courage they needed…and thats when 1,500 sheep in the flock decided that they too needed to see what flying was like. 450 sheep died that day. Only 450 because as the pile of animals grew taller on the ground it cushioned the fall for the rest of the sheep that went off the edge.

Now you might be able to spin this story and say that 450 sheep died for a good cause! They were explorers! But don’t pull the wool over your eyes. You might say that sheep are just team players and they wanted to support the first one who went over the edge so he didn’t look like an idiot. But I’d be fleecing you to even suggest it! And now for my last joke…you might say that since they lived in Turkey, they though they could fly…BUT that would be a baaaaaaad attempt at humor. Okay, I’m done!

But no, the sheep were simply acting the way they were designed to. They aren’t the brightest tools in the shed and they need the constant supervision and help from their shepherd in order to maintain the right course. And as tough of a pill as it is to swallow…that sure sounds a lot like us. We wander! We want to do our own thing, even if we know its not what is best for us in the end. We follow others in their bad decisions. Unfortunately, there are just a lot of similarities between us and sheep.

[extended intro]

We are in our third week of our Parables series. Nate and Chuck have laid an awesome foundation for us to build on over the next couple of weeks. The parable we are diving into today is the Parable of the Lost Sheep.

Our text today is going to come out of the 18th chapter of Matthew in verses 12-14. So lets go ahead and dig in and we’ll pray for the Lord to reveal what he has for us this morning.

Matthew 18:12-14

12 “What do you think? If any man has a hundred sheep, and one of them has gone astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine on the mountains and go and search for the one that is straying?

13 “If it turns out that he finds it, truly I say to you, he rejoices over it more than over the ninety-nine which have not gone astray.

14 “So it is not the will of your Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones perish.

[Let’s Pray]

Before we get too deep into this text, we need to pull out something that is crucial and basically acts as an undercurrent for how we are going to pull the application out of this parable. From this text there are 3 really important implications about the love of God.

First, the love of God is an individual love.

It wasn’t enough for the shepherd in this parable to still have 99% of his sheep left over after the one went astray. No! The shepherd leaves the 99 and then looks for the one that went missing. No matter how large a family is, a parent knows you can’t spare even one of your kids. God won’t be satisfied until the last wanderer is gathered in. Scripture says that even the hairs on your head are numbered. Its a personal, individual love for you and for me.

Second, the love of God is a seeking love.

The shepherd in this parable wasn’t content to wait until the sheep found its way back to the flock. This is what was so radical to the jewish people during the time of Christ. Up to this point, so much of the jewish faith was based on performance. It was based on the idea that obeying the commandments and making sacrifices is what made you holy.

Chuck mentioned this last week when he dove into the parable of the dinner - the pharisees expected to get into heaven because they acted more holy and followed more commandments than others.

What Jesus presented about God was so radical, the jews couldn’t wrap their minds around it. The jewish people would have gladly agreed that if the parable said lost sheep came crawling wretchedly home, begging for forgiveness, then God would forgive them. But our God is far more wonderful than that. Jesus came to seek those who are lost. He isn’t content to wait until we find our way back, he goes out in search of us no matter the cost.

And third, the love of God is a rejoicing love.

When the shepherd finds his lost sheep, he rejoices over it, even more so than he was happy to still have 99 sheep who stayed safe! Sometimes we are only willing to accept those who repent and come back to the flock after we have first given them a moral lecture and we have to make sure they “truly feel sorry and consider themselves contemptible.” And even then we typically don’t trust them again. But the Good shepherd puts our sins behind him and when he finds us, its all joy.

[main body]

Now that we have laid some of the preliminary ground work about the love of God, lets dive into our parable. There are two ways that I believe are appropriate for interpreting this parable in its present context. The first is evangelistic, or for the lost. I believe that this parable is one of the clearest and most beautiful representations of how Jesus seeks and saves the lost. The second way of interpreting this parable is ecclesiological, or for the church. This parable gives not only an incredible description of how Jesus seeks and saves the lost, but also a clear prescription for how we as the church are supposed to treat the wandering sheep in our own flock.

So lets start with the first; how is this parable evangelistic or for the lost?

First we have to assign some meaning to each of the “characters” mentioned in this parable. First there is the searching shepherd; this represents Jesus. Then there are the 99 sheep safe on the mountainside; they represent those who are believers and have accepted Christ as their savior. And third there is the lost sheep; this represents the lost person who does not believe in Jesus as their savior.

So through our evangelistic lens we look at this parable see that Jesus is that searching shepherd. It is Christ who searches for lost people. We saw this just a second ago, the love of God is a searching love and this is what drives Jesus to seek the lost. He isn’t content to wait with the safe sheep until the wandering sheep find their way home. He leaves the 99 and goes out to find the lost sheep.

Notice who is doing the work here. It isn’t the sheep that decides they want to be found. It isn’t the lost sheep who finds their way back to the flock and is allowed to come in. It is Jesus who goes out, initiates the search, and pursues those who don’t have a relationship with him.

So what does this mean for us? It means that Christ wants a relationship with you. Sheep wander, they need direction they need a good shepherd to guide them to where they should go. So, if you don’t have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, he wants to have one. He wants YOU. You aren’t just another number to him. His love is an individual love and he is seeking YOU. We see at the end of this parable that, “it is not the will of your Father who is in heaven than one of these little ones should perish.” Jesus wants you, he doesn’t want you to remain lost. So Jesus is the searching shepherd who seeks lost people.

But Jesus doesn’t just search and search and never find. He is the locating shepherd.

Palestinian shepherds were EXPERTS at tracking down their lost sheep. They could follow a lost sheep’s track for miles. They would brave cliffs and precipices just to find one lost sheep.

In Jesus’ day, flocks were often communal; they belonged to communities or villages and not usually to individuals. So, there were usually two or three shepherds with them at a time. This is why the shepherd in the parable could leave the ninety-nine. If he left them with no one to watch them, he would come back and half of his safe sheep would now also be lost! But he could leave them with fellow shepherds while he went to find the lost sheep. And when he went to find the lost sheep, he would make the most strenuous and sacrificial effort that he possibly could to find the lost sheep. It was a typical shepherd’s rule that if a sheep couldn’t be brought back alive, then at least if it was at all possible, its fleece or at least a bone must be brought back to prove that it was dead. The shepherds would sacrifice almost anything to bring the sheep back home alive.

And you know what is such a paradox about how relentless the shepherd has to be to find the lost sheep? Is how bad the sheep NEED to be found by the shepherd. Its a paradox because so often before we know Christ, we are convinced we know what is best for us. We either aren’t interested or don’t believe in the God of the Bible. Maybe you aren’t prideful enough to say there isn’t a God but certainly if there is one he probably isn’t anything like the one we see in the Bible.

And this is true with real sheep too! They wander around on their own, and next thing they know they are falling off the edge of a cliff! Or marooning themselves on a ledge that they can’t get off. You may not believe it right now, but without the Good Shepherd, Jesus, you are aimlessly wandering and not realizing that at the end of your road isn’t more road, its a cliff. You may feel like there is freedom in roaming. You aren’t tied down or committed to an outdated ideology. But let me tell you, thats a life of emptiness.

I am all too convinced that if I didn’t believe in Jesus Christ as my savior, I would be a wandering skeptic of everything. Begging for something to believe in, yet too prideful to admit that Christ was begging me to believe him and enter into a relationship with Him.

The paradox of the searching shepherd is how bad the lost sheep need to be found. You need the Good Shepherd to get his staff around your neck and stop you before you wander over the edge.

And Jesus gave the ultimate sacrifice to do this. To bring home lost sheep he died on the cross so that we could have a relationship with him.

So based on what we now know about the lengths the shepherd will go through to find his lost sheep, its no surprise what we see in verse 13 where it says, “if it turns out that he finds it [the lost sheep], truly I say to you, he rejoices over it more than over the 99 which have not gone astray.” You can imagine the joy of the shepherd who came back to camp carrying that wandering sheep on his shoulder. The lengths he went through to find the lost sheep and to now be able to hold it in his arms and carry it back to safety.

This parable shows Jesus’ favorite picture of God and his love. Our God has a rejoicing love. There is no grudge. There is only joy. But what does it mean that the shepherd rejoices more over the found sheep than over the 99 who never went astray? This is an incredible picture of God’s grace and love! But Jesus is not saying that the shepherd doesn’t care for those who are safe, and he also is not saying that the God is less delighted over disciples who are safe in the fold! But he is pointing out that there is a particular and peculiar joy over bringing home one that was lost.

So, how many of you are still wandering out there? How many of you are worried that God no longer wants you? You’ve looked away from him so many times, you have rejected him your whole life how can God still want you? Just like the parable says, He is the searching shepherd, and he came to seek and save the lost.

[transition]

Now something interesting about this parable is that we see a very similar version of it in Luke Chapter 15. But if we look closely, there are some important things to note before we just say that this is the same parable with the same meaning. In Luke 15, it opens with the parable of the lost sheep. But it starts in verse 1 with, and I quote...

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.”

Now, this is very different than the way that Matthew 18 opens in verse 1 where it says...

Matthew 18:1 NASB95

At that time the disciples came to Jesus and said, “Who then is greatest in the kingdom of heaven?”

Matthew opens with Jesus’ talking to his disciples. Luke 15 opens with Jesus talking to the sinners, tax collectors, Pharisees, and scribes. Now, this is important because it gives a whole new dimension to the meaning of this parable. So much so that I would argue that instead of Matthew and Luke telling slightly different versions of the same event, I actually would say that I think Jesus told this parable twice in two different settings and Matthew records one of them and Luke records the other. And thats where I think we come to our second interpretation in the book of Matthew - it’s the ecclesiological one - or the one for the church.

Yes, its true that Jesus is the searching, locating, rejoicing, and ultimate Good Shepherd. But I believe that in Matthew, this parable is also a charge to the church to imitate Christ in this way. And this is why context is so important because it can change the meaning of the parable in a very intentional way.

The metaphor in this parable would not have been unfamiliar to the disciples who were all jewish. In fact, this was probably the easiest parable for them to connect the dots on. This is because sheep were used as an example for God’s people over 200 times in the Old Testament. Shepherds being used to represent the leaders over Israel was used dozens of times in the Old Testament. Okay? So they know what Jesus is talking about, they have seen this metaphor dozens if not hundreds of times.

But I believe the particular passage that Jesus was trying to get them to think of is a prophecy we see in Ezekiel 34. Let me read it for you and you’ll see what I mean;

What I believe Jesus is implying to the disciples by using this parable is that they are to be the new shepherds who watch over the flock of those called by Christ. They are to replace the shepherds prophesied against in Ezekiel, and the other bad shepherds mentioned in the Old Testament.

And I believe that this is the application for the church today as well. But this doesn’t just stop at pastors or church leaders. This applies to every single person who has someone in the church that they look after in some way. If you lead a small group, this is for you. If you disciple someone, this is for you. If you have brothers or sisters in Christ that you know are wandering astray, this is for you. No one is exempt from this if they are followers of Christ. So what does that mean?

First, as the church, we are to search for lost sheep like Jesus did.

You’ve heard me say this a couple of times already, but sheep aren’t the brightest tools in the shed. We are stubborn. We want our own way. We think we know whats best for us. There are wandering sheep who have strayed away from God and from the church. And Jesus is saying in this parable, that its us who should be seeking out those who were once among us but have wandered away. It should be us who hit our knees in prayer for those who are wandering. It should be us who aren’t content to wait with the 99 and just hope that one day those who have wandered away from the church will come back. We are the body of Christ, the family of Christ. A family can’t spare even one of its members.

Second, just like Jesus we are supposed to be relentless in our pursuit of those who wander astray.

And no, not all who wander away want to be found - in fact, I would say that until the Holy Spirit gets ahold of them most who wander away don’t want to be found. So we shouldn’t harass people and annoy the mess out of them in hopes that they would come back to church because thats not the way of Christ - but the one thing that we can be absolutely relentless in - is our prayers.

Here is a quick side note: How many of us complain about the next generation and about the things we don’t like that they do? We all do it, right? I’m a millennial so I hear this all the time!

“All millennials are entitled!”

“Millennials are the snowflake generation!”

And I’m not gonna argue with you! There seems to be plenty to complain about.

And my generation does it to Gen Z. And the boomers did it to Gen X!

So how many of us complain about the next generation? But are we praying for them? How many of us are praying for the next generation of believers to be raised up to take their place and fight the good fight…but we aren’t discipling them? How many of us can name one, two, three people that have wandered away from the church, yet its been years since we have reached out to them?

SHEPHERDS SEARCH RELENTLESS FOR THEIR SHEEP. We have the tools to fight off the attacks of this world - just like shepherds used to have staffs, and crooks, and slings to fight off the bears and lions and wolves. [Wow, I didn’t realize how much like the wizard of oz that would sound like!] But we have all the tools we need in scripture to fight off the attacks of this world.

How many of us have watched as weaker brothers and sisters get stuck in the mud of this world yet instead of reaching our hands into the dirt to pick them up - we say that we want to keep our robes white and we hope that the sheep figure out, we want them to be okay! But that looks dirty where they are stuck and I don’t really want to step in to that. SHEPHERDS SEARCH RELENTLESSLY FOR THEIR SHEEP.

We should be equipped with the armor of God and not satisfied until we have picked up the hurt sheep and carried them home on their shoulders. But if we are not able to bring the wanderer back into the church, we can continue to pray for them - we can hit our knees knowing we did everything we could to bring them back.

Now we have to be careful. Because the pressure is not on the people in the church to save lost people from their sins - it’s Jesus who seeks and saves the lost and brings them into relationship with him. But it is our responsibility to care for and look after those who Jesus has brought into a relationship with himself. It is the responsibility of the the people of the church to disciple and to protect. Lets read the passage from Ezekiel again,

Its our responsibility as the body of Christ to strengthen each other. Proverbs says, “as iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.” So when a member of the body of Christ starts to go astray, it should be us who are the first ones to start praying and start searching to bring them back.

And what do we do when they come back?

Jesus gives us the answer to that question too - just like the shepherd in the parable, we should rejoice when those who have wandered away from God come back! I mentioned this earlier, but we in the church sometimes do a poor job at this. It sometimes feels like we are the Pharisees. We are okay if wanderers come back home but only after they receive a moral spanking and if they really feel sorry and penitent. [laugh - I really wasn’t planning on saying “spanking” I guess just flashbacks of my childhood and getting spanked came back to mind.]

But anyways…we tend to act like the pharisees and have a hard time accepting people back into the church after they have wandered astray for a time. And even then when they do come back to the church sometimes we still don’t trust them or don’t hold them up as highly as other believers.

Thats not what Jesus tells us to do in this parable. He tells his disciples to rejoice over the wanderer coming back home. Nate mentioned it a couple of weeks ago in his message about the prodigal son - sometimes older brothers make it hard for younger brothers to come back home. Church, Jesus tells us to REJOICE over the wanderer coming back home. Its not conditional - it says rejoice. It doesn’t say rejoice only if you think they feel sorry enough.

So for those who are currently astray right now. You aren’t in the church, you were at one point, maybe you were even a committed believer at one point but now you’ve walked away from the church. Maybe you’ve walked away because of the people in the church. Maybe you experienced what Ezekiel is speaking against. Maybe you have experienced the bad kind of shepherds. Please here what I’m saying, don’t let your experience with a bad earthly shepherd, or a bad church, keep you from belonging to the ultimate Good Shepherd who is Jesus. And don’t let it keep you from finding a church who will love you in your weaknesses and who will look after you the way that God has called them to. So if thats you and thats why you are here today - you are looking for a church to love you and to care for you, I believe that this church is that type of church.

So church, what do we do with this parable? We search for those who have wandered away just like Jesus searched for us when we were lost. We relentlessly pursue those who need to come back home. And we rejoice and celebrate when they come back.

So, if you aren’t a follower of Christ, what do you do with this parable? Know that there is a good shepherd who is searching for you. Maybe you know this and you have been resisting for so long. Maybe you have been hearing Jesus’ call you to himself and you keep saying no. Our shepherd is a good shepherd, and he wants a personal relationship with you. How long will you keep holding out?

[Lets pray.]