:Lost?" 10-8-23

Overview

The Shepherd Who Seeks the Lost

Shepherding imagery runs throughout Scripture—appearing well over a hundred times—and it consistently points us to the character of God. The Lord is the shepherd of Psalm 23:1, the God who shepherded Jacob through all his days in Genesis 48:15, and the Good Shepherd who lays down his life for the sheep in John 10:11. So when Jesus turns to a shepherd and his sheep in Luke 15:1-7, he is drawing on a deep well of biblical witness about how God relates to his people.

Two groups have drawn near to Jesus: tax collectors and sinners on one side, Pharisees and scribes on the other. The religious leaders grumble that Jesus welcomes outcasts and eats with them. Rather than answering directly, Jesus poses a question and tells a parable: which of you, having a hundred sheep and losing one, would not leave the ninety-nine and go after the lost one until he finds it? To the Pharisees, this sounds absurd—the lost sheep brought it on himself by wandering. But sheep rarely rebel deliberately; they nibble. They drift from one tuft of grass to the next until they look up and discover the flock and the shepherd are nowhere in sight. We do the same, distracted by scrolling, by possessions, by the demands of accumulating more, until we suddenly realize we have wandered far from where we belong.

What sounds like absurdity to the self-righteous sounds like security to the lost. The shepherd's relentless pursuit echoes God's promise in Ezekiel 34:11-16: "I myself will search for my sheep and will seek them out... I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed." Notice the certainty of Jesus' words—when he has found it, not if. The shepherd does not scold the sheep; he lifts it onto his shoulders and rejoices. This is the gospel: Christ pursued us in our wandering, found us in the waters of baptism and the preaching of his Word, and bore our sin upon his own shoulders to the cross. As Hebrews 12:2 reminds us, it was "for the joy that was set before him" that he endured the cross—the joy of gathering his flock home.

As modern Christians, we often stand in both groups at once. We are righteous only because the Shepherd found us; we are members of the fold only because we were first lost sheep brought back. That truth shapes how we live with one another. When we see brothers and sisters wandering—or those who never knew they were called into the flock—do we leave the ninety-nine and pursue them with word and sacrament, allowing the Shepherd to use our voices to call his sheep? It is a great task, but the comfort is this: we are not the Shepherd. We are part of the flock he has already found. And when we look up, distracted and disoriented, asking "Am I lost?"—the Shepherd stands before us, assuring us that we are indeed found.

Transcript

If you wouldn't please open your Bibles to the Gospel of Luke, the 15th chapter. 3s

If you're using a Pue edition of the Bible, you can find this on page 67 in the New Testament. 9s

We're in chapter 15 of the Gospel of Luke. 17s

Shepherds, sheep, this is an image that is brought often in Scripture. 23s

Shepherds is used over 100 times. 31s

We hear about shepherds in Scripture and often times. 35s

We hear of God being the shepherd. 39s

For example, Psalm 23, the Lord is my shepherd. 43s

The Lord is my shepherd in Genesis, the 49th chapter. 48s

Jacob is on his deathbed and he is blessing Joseph Sons and he says, 53s

the God who has been my shepherd all my life to this day, knowing that it is God who is his shepherd. 59s

John, the 10th chapter, Jesus says, I am the good shepherd. 69s

So shepherd and shepherding and sheep come up a lot. 75s

So it's not out of the norm that Jesus would turn to the imagery of sheep and shepherds in the parable that will study today. 81s

Let's go ahead and turn to the first verse in chapter 15. 93s

Now all the tax collectors and sinners were coming near to listen to him. 98s

And the paracese and scribes were grumbling and saying this fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them. 103s

In this text that we're going to study today, we have two groups, two groups that are sitting that have drawn near to Jesus. 114s

We have the tax collectors and sinners who should not be there. 125s

They are unrighteous. They are gross. They are the outcast of society. 130s

And then we have the Pharisees and the scribes, the good people, the church people who are sitting here and they see 136s

the outcasts, listening and drawing near. 147s

And they are very disgruntled. They're disgruntled that this man that sits before them continually 151s

allows for the outcast of society to come near him, to come near him, to sit at his feet and to listen to his teachings. 160s

And so they grumble and they murmur because those sinners do not 174s

belong at the table. 187s

Jesus responds to them. When Jesus responds to those who are disgruntled around him or those who 192s

come to him with a question so often, instead of just responding with a direct answer, instead, 199s

he asks a question in response. Or he tells a parable in our text. 208s

He does both. He asks a question and with a parable by doing this, he forces the hearer to listen. 214s

And when we listen to God's Word as it encounters us, at it as it engages us, we are invited 227s

and given the opportunity to work through and listen exactly to what Jesus is saying. 236s

So let's turn. He tells them this parable beginning in verse 4. 245s

Which one of you? Having a hundred sheep and losing one of them does not leave the 99 in the 251s

He finds it. Think about this question. How this question would be heard by each of his audiences? 266s

For the Pharisees, for the the righteous, they would hear this and they would hear complete 277s

absurdity. Which one of you being a shepherd? Which one of you called to look after protect? 284s

Keep and care for his flaw? Which one of you would leave? Nearly the entirety of the flock to 292s

seek out one? The one wandered. Ah! The one, the one has lost himself. It's his own fault for wandering 301s

and getting lost. How does a sheep get lost? Do sheep intentionally wander off from their flock? Do 320s

they intentionally say the yah and head out? No! sheep get distracted. They get distracted. They're 333s

there's some more green grass over there and so they come, work their way and they nibble over here 350s

and then they see some more and they nibble and they continue to nibble their way away from the flock. 356s

Until all of a sudden, their fall, they look up and they realize 364s

their lost. They realize they are no longer in the presence of their shepherd and the flock to which they belong. 372s

Who's a sheep? Who's a sheep? 391s

When we are wandering in the world, even in the midst of our flock, do we ever begin to nibble? 397s

On the grass that this world offers us and we nibble and it's good and we see some more and we 410s

nibble and we nibble and it's not because we intentionally want to leave our flock, but we get 423s

distracted. We get distracted by scrolling. We get distracted by what other people are saying. 433s

We get distracted by the fancy car that drives by. We get distracted by adding more and more rooms 452s

and if we have more and more rooms in our home, we must fill it with more and more stuff and if we have 461s

more and more stuff, we must pay for it and so we must work more and more and we get distracted 467s

until we look up full and realizing that we've wandered off and we're no longer in the presence 477s

of our shepherd or our flock. 492s

Now the Pharisees, the Pharisees, the church people, the good sheep. They hear Jesus, 499s

pose this question which one of you would not leave the flock and go search for that lost sheep 509s

until you find it they hear this and they think it's absurd. Can you imagine that they're grumbling 519s

would stop hearing that or do you think they would grumble more? Now let's consider the tax collectors 526s

and the sinners, those who are hearing this question by Jesus, which one of you, 537s

having 99 or 100 sheep wouldn't leave the 99 and go after the one until you found it. 545s

While it sounds like absurdity to the Pharisees, it sounds like security, security 555s

to the tax collectors, to the sinners, to the sheep who are lost 564s

because they know that they are valuable enough to the shepherd, that the shepherd would 572s

leave the flock in order to pursue and find the one who is lost. 587s

The lost sheep know that their shepherd will not give up seeking out for them. 600s

In Ezekiel, in Ezekiel the 34th chapter, the shepherds of Israel are chastise by God. 609s

Their chastise through the prophet, where they say, or where he says to them, 620s

therefore you shepherds hear the word of the Lord, as I live says the Lord God, because my sheep 625s

have become a prey and my sheep have become food for all the wild animals since there was 631s

no shepherd, and because my shepherds have not searched for my sheep, but the shepherds have 638s

fed themselves and have not fed my sheep. He continued down in verse 11 of Ezekiel 34, 647s

thus says the Lord God, I myself will search for my sheep and I will seek them out. 657s

As shepherd seek out their flocks when they are among their scattered sheep, so I will seek out 666s

my sheep. I will rescue them from all the places to which they have been scattered on a day of clouds 672s

and thick darkness. I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep. I will make them lie down 679s

as the Lord God. I will seek the lost and I will bring back the strayed. 686s

The lost sheep, the tax collector, the sinner. They hear the word of hope. They hear that they 698s

are not forever lost. Brothers and sisters, as we wander, as we nibble and then look up, 707s

and find that we have wandered from the flock, we look up with confidence knowing that the 723s

bird seeks for us and will not stop until he finds us. Turning to verse 5, 734s

when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders and rejoices, and when he comes home, he calls 747s

together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep 756s

that was lost. Notice that first word in verse 5, when there is no question that the shepherd 764s

will indeed find his lost sheep. There is no question that the shepherd indeed will 775s

pursue after those who are lost until until he gathers them back. And what does he do? It says, 784s

when he has found his lost sheep, he lays it on his shoulders. He lays it on his shoulders and 795s

he rejoices. He doesn't find the sheep only to better the sheep and make sure that the sheep 806s

knows that they have been lost due to their own wanderings. But he finds the sheep and he picks it up 820s

and he lays it on his shoulders. It doesn't matter the distance, it doesn't matter the time, 834s

the shepherd rejoices. Our shepherd, the Lord Jesus Christ, while we were lost, while we were 848s

wandering in the darkness, in the desertedness of our sin, the Lord Jesus Christ pursued us. 860s

He pursued us and when he found us through the waters of baptism through his preached word, 871s

he picks us up and he lays us upon his shoulders and our sin is laid upon his shoulders as he 879s

seeks the lost laid down his life for the lost sheep. Taking your sins upon his own shoulders, 905s

becoming the sacrifice lamb, the sacrifice that was accepted and rejoicing in Hebrews. It says that 919s

Jesus for the joy before him and dored the cross. The joy of having his block reunited, the joy 929s

of having his block promised to be together in his eternal and glorious presence. This is what 942s

we rejoice over this is what he rejoices over this is the purpose for the shepherd's 954s

seeking after the lost sheep. Which one of you, which one of you having a hundred sheep and losing 963s

one of them, does not leave the 99 in the wilderness and go after the one that is lost until he 974s

finds it. He finds it and he calls his neighbors together saying, come and rejoice with me. 986s

Rejoice with me for I have found my sheep that was lost. Just so I tell you there will be more joy 998s

in heaven over one sinner who repents, then over 99 righteous persons who need no repentance. 1006s

When the two groups, when the two groups here of the response in heaven, 1019s

what do you think they heard? We have the good sheep, the church people, those who believe they are 1029s

repentance. Do they hear? Do they hear that the Lord cares for every one of his sheep? 1043s

And for the tax collectors and the sinners who hear that heaven rejoices over every one who 1058s

repents? Do they hear the hope? Do they see that the gate is open and they are back in to come in? 1065s

As a modern people, we so often find ourselves in both places. In both places, 1081s

we are the righteous. We are the righteous, but we are the righteous because the shepherd found us. 1093s

We were lost. We were lost, but we are now found. And as a part of the flock is a part of 1111s

bold of the Lord's. When we see our brothers and sisters who are wandering lost, 1121s

when we see that they have nibbled their way away from the flock away from the shepherd, 1132s

or didn't even know that they were called to be a part of the flock. 1143s

Do we leave the 99 and pursue that one, pursue that one through word and sacrament? 1151s

The shepherd using us to share his good news, the shepherd using us to call 1165s

to those who are wandering lost. We are in this flock and bold together. 1172s

We are all called each and every one of us called out from being a lost sheep, 1183s

to being part of the fold. And God uses us where we are in the moment that we are to share the good news. 1191s

To share the good news to the tax collector, the sinner, to share the good news to those 1202s

who think they are righteous, but lost in their own righteousness. The Lord God calls us, 1212s

calls us to proclaim that the shepherd is there, that the shepherd is pursuing all his sheep, 1225s

and that the shepherd will not feast until all are called back into his fold. 1235s

It's a big, big task. It's a big, big job. But the good news is that we aren't the shepherd. 1245s

We're part of the fold, we're part of the flock that has been found. 1262s

And so we nibble and we nibble, but we never lose fact or point of where and who our shepherd is. 1269s

And it is by his good grace that he continues to call us. 1283s

Day after day, week after week, year after year, calling us so that when we look up 1289s

and ask, am I locked? Before us is the shepherd and he assure us that we are indeed found. 1300s