Lost Sheep

Lost Sheep
March 1, 2013 4:30 AM -0600
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Jesus made people lost in sin His priority, and we must do the same.
  1. Intro
    1. “To the Cross”
      1. Third “act” of Luke
        1. Jesus at the height of His popularity
        2. Massive crowds from all over Palestine
        3. People hanging on His every word and deed
        4. Shifts focus from what faith looks like in me to how the faithful relate to others
        5. Deliberately anti-popular messages
        6. Has set His eyes on the cross
      2. Last week, “Everything”
        1. If we want to be legitimate disciples of Jesus, we must make Him the most important in our lives.
        2. Challenged to write down anything in our lives more important than Jesus and leave it at the altar.
      3. Today, Luke 15
        1. Immediately after the call to “bear [your] own cross.”
        2. Jesus has declared He must be most important.
        3. Now He reveals what comes next through a series of three parables.
        4. And the question we will be confronted with is this: Do our priorities match Jesus’
    2. Luke 15:1-7: All the tax collectors and sinners were approaching to listen to Him. And the Pharisees and scribes were complaining, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them!”
          So He told them this parable: “What man among you, who has 100 sheep and loses one of them, does not leave the 99 in the open field and go after the lost one until he finds it? When he has found it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders, and coming home, he calls his friends and neighbors together, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, because I have found my lost sheep!’ I tell you, in the same way, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over 99 righteous people who don’t need repentance.
  2. We must seek the lost (1-4).
    1. Luke 15:1-4: All the tax collectors and sinners were approaching to listen to Him. And the Pharisees and scribes were complaining, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them!” So He told them this parable: “What man among you, who has 100 sheep and loses one of them, does not leave the 99 in the open field and go after the lost one until he finds it?
    2. At the height of His popularity, Jesus was attracting crowds from all over Palestine and beyond.
    3. He was the rage among common people, largely because, as a carpenter from Nazareth, He was a common person, and His message, laced with parables to which they easily related and which they immediately understood, seemed geared specifically to them.
    4. And the fact that He had chosen a bunch of fishermen and hicks as His apostles - His primary disciples - only cemented the deal
    5. But Jesus didn’t just choose common people as apostles. One of the first people He called - actually, went to his office, sought him out and said to him, “Follow me.” - was Levi the tax collector.
      1. Tax collectors are generally not the most popular people in town.
      2. In Jesus’ day, they were known as
        1. traitors: Jews working for the pagan Roman occupiers
        2. greedy: they routinely exacted outrageous sums from the people so they could skim larger margins off the top for themselves
        3. unscrupulous: they didn’t particularly care how they got the job done
        4. untrustworthy: they weren’t allowed to serve as witnesses, much less judges
        5. morally bankrupt and corrupt: they were well known for their generally sinful lifestyles
        6. shunned: they and their families - up and down - were automatically excommunicated from the synagogue, alienated from the community
      3. If there are two things you can count on about shunned people:
        1. they inevitably gather together (thus, tax collectors and sinners - others who had been excommunicated by the Pharisees and scribes hung out together)
        2. they flock to anyone willing to give them the time of day
      4. But Jesus gave them more than the time of day; picking Levi was just the tip of the iceberg!
      5. He was baptizing tax collectors as early as Luke 3
      6. He was dining with them in Luke 5, and by doing that, Jesus
        1. placed himself “on social terms” with them (PNT): they hung out as friends
        2. indicated acceptance and recognition (Reflecting God)
    6. So the tax collectors and their close friends, the sinners, flocked to Jesus
    7. Which prompted the Pharisees and scribes - the religious leaders of the day - to grumble and complain.
      1. NIV renders “muttered”
      2. You ever met someone who did that?
      3. Don’t really tell you what’s wrong to your face, in an appropriate manner so you can actually hear what they have to say and respond intelligibly
      4. Roll their eyes, mutter under their breath, grit their teeth, and generally stir up trouble
    8. This makes sense
      1. The Pharisees and scribes were the ones who had excommunicated the tax collectors and sinners.
      2. You know, there’s not much that says, “We don’t accept you, and we certainly don’t want to be your friends” quite like kicking them and their families out of the synagogue or church.
    9. Here, though, as the tax collectors and sinners once again swarm Jesus, and the Pharisees and scribes once again mutter under their breath, Jesus stops and responds, in vs 4: “What man among you, who has 100 sheep and loses one of them, does not leave the 99 in the open field and go after the lost one until he finds it?”
      1. A familiar image: Israelites had been shepherds and herders since the days of Abram, and shepherding was still commonplace in Israel
      2. Jesus’ listeners immediately knew the answer.
      3. Every last one of them would leave the 99 to search for the one.
    10. On some level, it defied reason
      1. You only lost one.
      2. The 99 still need the guidance and protection of the shepherd.
      3. Acceptable loss anyone?
    11. But it was also quite logical
      1. Leave the 99 in an open field
      2. grazing
      3. great visibility, so they can see wolves and other threats and flee
      4. Protection of the flock; herds are always harder for predators to attack
      5. Most importantly: as Jesus’ listeners readily knew, even that one sheep was significant, valuable in the eyes of the shepherd
    12. But Jesus wasn’t just talking about sheep: He was talking about people.
    13. If you skip ahead for just a second to vs 7, people just like the tax collectors and sinners who swarmed Him now
    14. In Jesus’ eyes - the eyes of the Good Shepherd - even one wayward soul is significant and valuable.
    15. And in order to find that one soul, He would leave the rest of the flock which was already found and in relative safety to go and search.
    16. And His point in asking this question, this way, of these Pharisees and scribes was that they - and we - must, too.
    17. We must seek the lost.
    18. We must get up and go after people like these tax collectors and sinners who are
      1. pushed to the fringes, marginalized by society, or
      2. simply lost in crowd that is society.
    19. We must go after people who are, more importantly, stuck in the quagmire of sin
      1. desperate to get out
      2. utterly incapable of helping themselves
      3. because, to be frank, they need the saving grace of Jesus.
    20. We must seek the lost.
    21. A few things which must be noted about what it means to seek:
      1. It involves risk
        1. You can’t go after the lost without trusting the found to take care of themselves for a bit.
        2. Jesus assumed that those who are already not lost - those who have no need of being found - will continue to graze on Scripture, watch out for each other.
        3. But they could wander off, a predator could attack and scatter the flock, etc.
        4. We who are seeking could get lost on the way
        5. We might come back empty-handed.
        6. Sometimes we’ll fail, and that’s okay.
      2. It involves getting up
        1. It’s a whole lot more comfortable to stay where we are, keep doing things the way we’ve been doing them.
        2. But if the shepherd continued sitting there with the rest of the flock, simply poking at his nice warm fire, the lost sheep would never be found.
        3. To seek the lost, we may have to give up some things that we consider comfortable.
        4. We may have to do some things which make us downright uncomfortable.
      3. It involves work
        1. You can’t look for the lost by simply standing there.
        2. One of the reasons shepherding was so popular in Palestine was because the terrain was, in many places, too vertical to plant: Looking for lost sheep involved climbing hills, descending valleys, looking around rocks and bushes.
        3. Flocks frequently covered a couple mi
        4. It’s a whole lot easier to simply sit in the pews
        5. We will have to do something - often, something hard - to seek the lost.
      4. It involves persistence.
        1. You can’t just look for a second and then give up.
        2. Jesus said the shepherd would look for the lost sheep until he found it.
        3. We need to have the same resolve.
        4. We can’t just give up on someone when they don’t get saved in a single conversation, a day, a week, a decade.
    22. We must seek the lost.
  3. We must minister to the lost (5).
    1. Luke 15:5: When he has found it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders,
    2. But that wasn’t all Jesus had to say to these Pharisees and scribes.
    3. Vs 5: “When he has found it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders” and carries it back to the rest of the flock.
      1. This was a fairly common thing for shepherds to do. Not at all unusual to see shepherds walking around Palestine with sheep draped across their shoulders.
      2. We’re going to do a little demonstration. Need three volunteers
      3. The species of sheep most common in Middle East is the Awassi sheep
      4. Average weight of an adult male: 60 kg (132 lbs)
      5. AUDIENCE PARTICIPATION: Have a volunteer lift 130 lbs
      6. Would you joyfully put that on your shoulders and carry it the couple of miles back to the rest of the flock?
    4. Here’s the thing: if a sheep gets lost, any number of things could be going on:
      1. injured
      2. attacked by wild animals
      3. It wasn’t getting back to the flock under its own power
    5. So the lost sheep needs to be picked up and carried.
    6. Lost people are the same way.
    7. Of course, usually not literally.
    8. But they have needs which they cannot meet themselves
    9. By reminding the Pharisees and co. that the shepherd picked up and carried the sheep, Jesus was reminding them - and us - that those of us who are already found are called to work to meet those needs for those who are still lost.
    10. In church talk, that’s called “ministry.”
    11. And you know, it’s hard work.
    12. But what it really is is us picking up and carrying someone to Jesus when they can’t get there on their own.
    13. We must minister to the lost.
      1. Once we figure out where they are, we figure out what they need.
      2. Sometimes, we need to look beyond the obvious or the quick fix. Example: Acts 3:1-6 (Peter and John don’t give a man alms, but instead heal his lameness.)
      3. But ultimately, ministering to them means doing whatever we can to meet their need.
    14. So what do they need?
      1. Maybe it’s money. Honestly, though, money is usually the very, very tip of the iceberg. If money is an issue, there is usually something deeper that they really need.
      2. Maybe it’s just help.
      3. Maybe it’s a shoulder to cry on.
      4. Or just someone to listen.
      5. Maybe - and this may be the biggest need in our culture right now - they need a real friend who takes genuine interest in them, as a person.
    15. We must minister to the lost.
  4. We must rejoice over the found (6-7).
    1. Luke 15:6-7: and coming home, he calls his friends and neighbors together, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, because I have found my lost sheep!’ I tell you, in the same way, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over 99 righteous people who don’t need repentance.
    2. And I want you to catch what happens next, in vs 6: “And coming home, he calls his friends and neighbors together, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, because I have found my lost sheep!’”
    3. He gets home, carrying this 130 lbs sheep on his shoulders, and he doesn’t
      1. flop it down and collapse into his recliner.
      2. grumble and groan and complain about how tired and sore he is or how far he had to walk with that thing on his shoulders
    4. Rather, he immediately calls his friends and neighbors, all excited, and invites them to come to a party at his house: the lost sheep is found!
    5. When was the last time you rejoiced over someone who was lost being found?
    6. In comparison, when was the last time you rejoiced because
      1. you had a birthday?
      2. your good friend was in town?
      3. you got your paycheck?
      4. it was the weekend?
    7. We have a tendency to rejoice over almost trivial matters and totally miss the party that happens in heaven when one sinner gets saved.
    8. When the Pharisees and scribes grumbled and complained about how Jesus was mingling - dining, even - with tax collectors and sinners, Jesus’ response was: “What, are you kidding? Of course I’m hanging out with these guys! The biggest and best party in the universe happens when one of these repents and comes back to God! Of course I’m going to be hanging out with these guys!”
    9. And then, just to drive the point home and stick it to them a little - okay, so it was more than a little - He adds this barb in there: “There will be more joy in heaven over one sinner  who repents than over 99 righteous people who don’t need repentance.”
    10. I.e., He looks at these guys who considered themselves so pious, so self-righteous, that they didn’t need to repent, and He says, “There’s going to be a bigger party in heaven for a tax collector who recognizes his need for repentance - and does it - than for a hundred people like you.”
    11. There’s going to be a bigger party in heaven over one sinner who gets saved than over all of us who are already saved combined.
    12. If that’s true, why do we treat seeking and ministering to the lost as though it’s no big deal? We’ll get around to it, eventually. When it’s convenient. And when we feel like it.
    13. Jesus’ point was, we had better start feeling like it!
    14. We must rejoice over the found.
    15. Stop wasting our time throwing shindigs for routine, trivial stuff.
    16. Pat some backs, sure, but save the party for when someone gets saved!
    17. We must rejoice over the found.
  5. Conclusion
    1. Because - and we need to see this before we stop today - this was important.
      1. Strategically placed, right after the point where Jesus declares He must be most important.
      2. Reinforced with three - count them, three - parables in this one chapter.
    2. In fact, I dare say that, outside of making Jesus most important in our lives, seeking out and ministering to the lost is the most important thing which we as believers must do.
    3. Write down one lost person.
      1. Pray for them.
      2. Get to know them.
      3. Discover what they need and minister to them.
      4. Rejoice over them when they respond.

Ryrie


  • (2) “Since the Pharisees disdained publicans and sinners, Christ told three parables to show God’s interest in them.”

  • (4) “Eight times in this chapter the lostness of man is emphasized (v 4 twice, vv 6, 8, 9, 17, 32).”

  • (7) “need no repentance” was “a pointed reference to the Pharisees, who thought they needed no repentance.”


PNT


  • (1) “At the period of his ministry [publicans and sinners] were flocking in great numbers to hear him.”

  • (1) Publicans were “gatherers of the Roman tribute, generally corrupt, universally despised, usually Jews by birth.”

  • (1) “Sinners” were “persons excommunicated from the synagogues and usually held as outcasts.”

  • (2) Pharisees were “the orthodox leaders.”

  • (2) Scribes were “primarily copyists, but also the great theologians.”

  • (2) The Pharisees and scribes simply could not overlook the fact that Jesus would eat with publicans and sinners because doing so placed him “on social terms” with them.

  • (3-6) The three parables of Luke 15 are given “in succession to show how cordially God ‘receiveth sinners.’”

  • (5) Laying a lost sheep on the shoulders was “a common custom with Eastern shepherds.”

  • (5) “So every servant of God should rejoice at the return of a sinner.”

  • (7) “The Father rejoices and the Son and the angels with him.”

  • (7) The notion of repentance is that the person “comes to himself” and thus “decides to leave off sin and to serve God.” “Repentance means a change of mind or heart.”

  • (7) The 99 here represent “those who are already in Christ, safe, and need no repentance. It is the saving of the lost that brings the greatest joy.”


Reflecting God


  • (2) “muttered” = “complained among themselves, but not openly.”

  • (2) “More than simple association, eating with a person indicated acceptance and recognition.”

  • (3) “Jesus responded with a story that contrasted the love of God with the exclusiveness of the Pharisees.”

  • (4) “The shepherd theme was familiar from Ps 23; Isa 40:11; Eze 34:11-16.”

  • (7) “God’s concern and joy at the sinner’s repentance are set in stark contrast to the attitude of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law.”

  • (7) “do not need to repent” is “probably irony: those who think they are righteous (such as the Pharisees and the teachers of the law) and feel no need to repent.”


Archaeological


  • (1 via Matt 5:46) “Traditionally known as ‘publicans;’ tax collectors were men employed by Roman tax contractors to collect taxes. Because they worked for Rome and often demanded unreasonable payments, the tax collectors gained a bad reputation and were generally hated and considered traitors.”

  • (1 via Mar 2:14) “In addition to being labeled traitors, tax collectors were notorious for their dishonesty. They could not serve as witnesses or as judges and were expelled from the synagogue. In the eyes of the Jewish community their disgrace extended even to their families.”


ESV Study Bible


  • (1) “Were all drawing near to hear him reveals Jesus’ popularity with the outcasts of society who had “ears to hear” (14:35).”

  • (2) “Receives sinners and eats with them again reflects Jesus’ concern for the outsider.”

  • (3) “The following parables are directed to the Pharisees and scribes. The lost sheep (vv. 4–7), lost coin (vv. 8–10), and prodigal son (vv. 11–32) all correspond to lost sinners being found by Jesus (i.e., entering the kingdom of God).”

  • (5) The shepherd lays the lost sheep across his shoulders because “the sheep is too weak to return on its own.”

  • (6) “The Pharisees and scribes should rejoice that the lost sheep of Israel are entering the kingdom.”

  • (7) “Joy in heaven contrasts with the grumbling of Jesus’ opponents. It apparently means that both God and all the heavenly beings, including the angels, rejoice greatly (cf. v. 10).”

  • (7) “In light of the emphasis in Luke–Acts on the universal need of repentance (see Luke 3:3) and the evil of humanity (11:13; cf. Rom. 3:10–20), [‘righteous persons who need no repentance’] is best understood as ironic for “those who think they are righteous and have no need to repent.””


HCSB Study Bible


  • (1-2) “Then and now, to share a meal with someone typically indicates that you accept them.”

  • (3-7) “Though it might be considered reckless to leave a flock of 99 sheep to search for the lost one, Jesus' story emphasizes how much God cares for every lost sinner and how joyfully He responds when each one is found.”

  • (7) “The Greek verb for repent (metanoeo) and the related noun for repentance (metanoia) signify a change of mind (meta, meaning after or change; and nous, meaning mind). More than just an intellectual change of mind is in view; rather, both terms refer to a change in one's way of thinking that results in different beliefs and a change in the direction of one's life. The verb pisteuo (meaning believe) is much more common than metanoeo, though both words refer to concepts foundational to salvation (15:7,10; Mt 4:17; Jn 3:16). Repent and believe may be understood as opposite sides of the same coin. Repent means to turn from one's allegiance to sin and unbelief, whereas believe means to place one's trust in Christ. Thus, when one is mentioned the other is implied.”

FaithLife Bible


  • (1) ““Sinners” might designate prostitutes (perhaps 7:37, 39), but the text is ambiguous.”

  • (2) The observation that Jesus hangs out with sinners “is the basis for Jesus’ three parables in this chapter. He shows that sinners are the object of divine seeking because they are in need of repentance.”

  • (4) “The themes of losing and finding are central to these parables (see vv. 5, 6, 8, 9, 24, 32). Though a sheep, coin, and son are the metaphors used by Jesus, v. 7 and 15:10 make clear that He is referring to sinners. He is responding to the complaint of v. 2 and rebuking the self-righteousness of Israel’s religious leaders and their lack of concern for the lost.”

  • (4) “Communicating divine initiative to recover that which is lost (compare Ezek 34:1–24 and notes, especially Ezek 34:15–16).”

  • (5) By placing the lost sheep on his shoulder, the shepherd is “expressing care and concern on the part of the shepherd.”

  • (6) “There is shared joy over the recovery of lost sheep, made clear in v. 7, and especially v. 10.”

  • (7) “If not included simply for contrast with the “one,” this may be a part of Jesus’ rebuke against the scribes and Pharisees (see v. 2). If so, Jesus’ point might be that heaven rejoices more over one repentant sinner than it does over 99 people who think they are righteous. In other words, the “one” is worth celebrating while the 99 are not.”

  • Ryrie, Charles C. Ryrie Study Bible Expanded Edition. Chicago: Moody Press, 1994.
  • Johnson, Barton Warren. The People's New Testament. The Christian Publishing Company, 1891.
  • Barker, Kenneth, ed. Reflecting God Study Bible. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 2000.
  • Archaeological Study Bible. Grand Rapids, MI: The Zondervan Corporation, 2005.
  • The ESV Study Bible. Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2008.
  • The HCSB Study Bible. http://www.mystudybible.com
  • Faithlife Study Bible.
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Des Moines, IA
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