The Good Shepherd

It's good to be here with you guys tonight. It's been such a blessing to serve at Advent in a

fellow's role, and I'm really, really excited to talk about this parable tonight. One of the things

that Tommy said to me as he was sort of prepping me tonight to speak was he said, remember one thing,

if nothing else, that God loves these people, and so do you. And that's a profound statement,

both from Tommy but also in this story that Jesus is trying to get across, that Jesus' love is so deep

and so wide that it's meant for everyone, and there's not a person in this room who can't receive

that. So saying that, let's open with a quote from English priest C.F. Andrews, who served as a

missionary in India for most of his life, and it says this, Christ seeks from us deeds, not words.

Devotion to him is in the first place not sentimental, but practical. If the Christian

faith has no power to restore or recreate the human will, leading one to deeds of unselfish service,

then it stands self-condemned.

Well, after saying to you that Jesus loves you and then saying that if we're not doing anything

about it, the faith stands self-condemned, I think we need to look into it a little bit more

together and talk about it. So tonight as we wrap up the parable series, I want to really dive into the

idea that throughout Jesus' ministry, and specifically here, what he's doing is he's reorienting the way

that people look at faith. He's reorienting the way people approach the relationship with God,

with any God, but specifically with the one true God, his Father and our Father.

He's reorienting the way that our lives should be lived. He's reorienting the way that we should see

our very selves. No longer is it an inward faith. No longer can it be about ourselves,

or how good the sacrifice we bring to the table,

but it becomes about the kingdom, and about God's glory, and it becomes outward-facing,

and missional in its essence.

This has never been more real and more necessary for the church than it is today, for a long time.

The church in our culture has been sort of a center point of culture. It's often community centers.

It's often been the place of gathering. For many, many years, the church, as you all know,

the church is a place where truth came from, and culture accepted what the church said as truth.

But we find ourselves in a time where the church is no longer a city center,

and biblical truth is no longer truth. In fact, truth is not truth at all, and

anything that's relative may be truth or may not be truth, and

we could have a discussion philosophically about that at a different point. I won't probably be a part of it,

but feel free.

So tonight, let me propose two questions for us to ponder as we walk through this parable.

The first is this. Would you rather be a part of a community, cared for, loved, and defended,

or would you rather be alone, unaware of the dangers around you, without protection, and defenseless?

And secondly, if you could choose for every person you've ever met,

what would your choice for them be in that first question?

You see, this is what Jesus is laying out for the people that he's talking to in this parable.

It's what he wants us to understand and dwell with tonight.

And he answers them as well, and the answer comes in the form of a call and an offer,

and we'll get back to that at the end.

So tonight, we're going to do a little bit of a heart inspection on ourselves and on the church.

We're going to look deeper to understand what this offer and call might look like for us,

both as individuals and as a community.

And we're going to do so by looking at the heart of the Pharisees

and the heart of the shepherd in this story.

Let's pray.

Heavenly Father God, we thank you so much for loving us.

We thank you so much for the grace you've given to us, for the gift you've given us.

God, as we walk through this story, let us see and receive the offer and answer the call.

God, be with us tonight.

Let your spirit fill this place, open our hearts and minds to you.

In your name we pray.

Amen.

All right, so we'll kick off with a very, very short summary

of what Jesus is dealing with here in his audience,

and then we'll take a look at both the heart of the Pharisees and the heart of the shepherd.

So Jesus here, he's, in this context, he's speaking to sort of two parties here.

He's speaking both to the sinners, the lost, the broken.

He's also speaking to the Pharisees and the Israelites and those who are sort of steeped in God tradition.

The believers, if I can put it that way.

And what's going on here is those believers, the Pharisees, the ones who claimed God,

were extremely hostile towards Jesus and his ministry.

They're hostile towards his lifestyle, spending time and dining with, you know,

with the destitute, with thieves, with harlots, with tax collectors.

Really, they were upset that Jesus decided to spend most of his time

with the most despicable people of their culture.

And just before this, what really got them riled up in chapter 14,

if we were to go back,

is Jesus says,

understand this,

God is giving the kingdom to the outcasts of society.

Those of you who have it in a row,

this is Jesus speaking to the Pharisees,

who have all your ducks lined up,

you need to be careful.

You need to listen.

And so Jesus uses this parable to appeal to the common sense of both sides of the crowd

and to show the reality of this ministry that he's come to bring and start and grow.

And he does it both in the face of those who despise what he's doing

and for those who, for the first time in their lives,

have been invited in to a worship of the real God.

The analogy of a shepherd that's used in this story is not a new one to them.

It was well understood by both sides, the Pharisees and the sinners.

They would have understood the shepherd and his role to be a selfless,

humble, and extremely difficult life calling.

One that involves much self-sacrifice.

And in all honesty and analogy, that was drastically, drastically different

than the legalistic and moralistic elitism

that the Pharisees and religious leaders

had come to portray faith to be.

For us, maybe a shepherd doesn't work so well.

I don't know if any of you tend sheep.

I've sheared a sheep in my life, and I come from the Midwest,

so I don't expect any of you to have done the same.

And if you have, God bless you even more.

But so maybe for us it would be more prudent to talk about it as a teacher and her students.

Think about it like an elementary teacher and her class going on a field trip,

going to the zoo, perhaps.

And on this field trip they go and they have a good time,

and they're all at the zoo together.

And when it comes time to leave, the students come back to the bus.

But there's one student missing.

Now what Jesus says in this parable is the teacher is going to put the students on the bus

and go back and find the student,

to which all of us should rightly say,

exactly.

Right.

It makes sense.

That's exactly what the people here are saying.

Okay.

Where are you going with this, Jesus?

This makes perfect sense.

But we know you're taking it somewhere, and so he did.

Maybe a better way of putting it yet is in the words of Archbishop of Canterbury,

William Temple, who says this,

the church is the only society in the world

that exists for the benefit of those who are not yet its members.

And so we must then tonight look at the heart of the Pharisees,

and then after that look at the heart of the shepherd.

So let's start with the heart of the Pharisees then.

The heart of the Pharisees was very much a self-centered heart.

For them, God was inward.

He was a secret.

He was something that they sort of controlled and manipulated.

Throughout their history,

they had sort of bargained with God

and thought that they sort of had him under control

and had him figured out.

They should have seen by that point that it didn't work,

because when they tried that,

they ended up serving other nations and kings and rulers.

They ended up as slaves

and in not good situations.

But they didn't learn.

They still had this mindset.

And there was an exclusivity to go with that.

There was this self-centered heart bred individualism,

and it bred ownership.

See, in the story, the sheep belonged to the shepherd,

but what had happened in the audience Jesus was talking to

is the religious leaders and the Israelites

had deemed themselves the shepherd.

They'd sort of tried to misplace God

and take the role and become the headship

and choose who got to have their God

rather than God getting to say who gets to have him.

And this doesn't work.

It doesn't work for a variety of reasons.

The main reason it doesn't work

is because it leads to a fortification,

a heart of fortification,

sort of a protect-this-house mentality.

Right?

But we all know that when things on the inside aren't good,

the walls crumble from the outside inward.

When things get to the point

that you have to protect what's inside

rather than going outward and building,

things aren't good.

In the business world,

when you have to start cutting out your own business

and costs and expenses

rather than being able to use money

to grow your business,

the situation's not good.

But yet this is the track they chose to take

as a protect-this-house mentality.

It may not be unlike some of your children

or unlike my childhood at Christmastime.

When I was eight,

I received an electric race car track.

I don't know if you guys remember these.

These were big when I was a child.

I didn't get one the first year without,

and I was devastated about it.

I was convinced Santa was dead.

I came to believe that he's just a year late.

Because when I turned eight

and got to Christmas that next year,

lo and behold,

I got my electric race car track.

You see, the thing about these race car tracks

is there were two lanes

and there was two controllers,

and they were meant to be played with someone.

But I didn't want to.

I wanted to run both controllers.

I didn't care about racing, winning, or losing.

It was my race car track,

and therefore I was going to play with it.

So though my little brother wanted to play

and my dad demanded that he play,

I refused.

I said, no.

If he's going to play, I'm not going to play.

And my dad said, that's fine.

Then don't play.

And that's sort of what Jesus is saying here.

All right?

You both can play,

and if you choose not to, that's fine.

But they're going to get to play.

But you see, what happened is I proceeded to play,

and shortly thereafter I realized

how much fun I was missing out on.

Because the real joy

in having a two-lane race car track

as an eight-year-old child

is destroying your five-year-old brother in a race.

Right?

Because he wasn't nearly as coordinated

as I was at that point.

If we were to do it again today,

he'd probably beat me.

But we don't have the track anymore,

so I can still claim victory.

All right.

The other thing that you get

out of a self-centered heart

in the example of the Pharisees

is this elitism I referenced.

See, they think they're better.

They think they're better

and therefore more deserving.

And because they're more deserving,

then they're more loved by God.

If we were to sit here

and just make that statement,

it's easy to sit in our seats

or stand up here even

and say, well, that's backwards.

Obviously, no one is more loved by God.

But you see, Jesus never leaves

at surface level.

He always takes a little bit deeper.

So I want us to take just a moment

and take it a little bit deeper.

This heart of elitism,

before you judge the Pharisees

and the Israelites of the day

too harshly,

think about our own lives

for a second.

How often do we compare?

Compare ourselves to other people.

Other people in our field of vocation.

Other parents, maybe,

and how they raise their children.

Other churches,

and how they operate.

Other neighborhoods,

other cities.

Right?

Whatever it is,

our lives and our culture

is built around comparisons.

And when we buy into comparisons,

what we've immediately done

is established a level of elitism.

The very thing Jesus said

doesn't work in my kingdom.

So before we judge them,

let's make sure that comparison

is something that we try to avoid.

And the last thing here

in the heart of the Pharisees

is Jesus is opening them up

to a heart check.

The same way he's opening us up tonight.

He says very clearly in the passage,

you all are sheep.

Right?

He separates the 99 from the one.

Right?

The group,

the large community,

and the lost.

But none of them are elephants.

None of them are lions or bears.

What you have here

is a group of sheep.

Some are together

and some aren't there yet,

but we're all sheep.

And so that means

that we're all completely broken.

We all have the same level

of brokenness,

but we're all open

to the same availability

of complete and total grace.

And Jesus is telling them

that their faith

is that duty of a shepherd's

that as a community

to carry on the role of shepherd.

But as individuals

to never forget

that we're mere sheep.

The heart of a shepherd then.

How does this contrast

or look different

than the Pharisee's heart?

It's a selfless heart

instead of a self-centered heart.

First and foremost,

in this parable,

Jesus is telling them

and telling us

God cares about the lost.

Now before we go any further,

I want you to take notice

that he offers

a token of comfort here

that we might miss.

And let's pause

for a bit of good exegesis

as well,

just briefly.

All right,

it's easy to read this passage

and to see this

leaving of the 99

in the open country

as it says

and go after the one

that is lost

until he finds it.

Now upon just reading this,

if you're like me

and you read it

and you think

99,

open country,

that's not very much care.

Right?

But in fact,

it's total care

of the 99

that he shows

in that statement

because you see

in the translation

from the Greek

and the words

that Jesus spoke

and what he meant,

the word open country

actually means

a safe,

sort of solituded pasture

up on the mountainside.

They didn't have fences

all over the place.

Shepherds traveled.

They journeyed

where the grass grew.

And so for Jesus

to make a point

of stating

that the 99

were in the open country

is essentially

for him to say

they were safe

and then the shepherd

turned immediately.

So the focus is

without hesitation

the shepherd's

instantaneous pursuit

of the lost sheep

but I don't want you

to miss

that he also

puts the 99

in safe place.

Alright.

So what does it

mean then

to say that God

cares about the lost?

It means a couple

of things, alright?

It means that God

seeks after the lost.

He seeks after the lost

and this seeking

after the lost

happens in three ways,

three primary ways.

First,

it's an active search.

The shepherd

actively seeks.

He doesn't turn over

this obligation

to a ranch hand

or a hired hand

or a college kid

who had a few free hours

at the end of the day.

Right?

He didn't wait

until the next morning

and go out

with a group of buddies

to go on a search.

He dropped

what he was doing.

He didn't

delegate the role

and he went

all out.

A hundred percent

he went all out

for this one sheep.

He invests his time

and risks

his life

for the lost.

We can see that

no clearer

than on the cross.

not far down

the line

in Luke

where the search

for the lost

ends

with his death

on the cross

for you

and for me.

Secondly,

it's an incessant search.

You see,

in the text

we see that the shepherd

doesn't quit seeking.

He doesn't search

and then break

for coffee.

Right?

My grandfather's a farmer.

I'm familiar

with farm culture

and farm time

and it goes

a little something

like this.

8 a.m. breakfast,

10 a.m. coffee,

12 p.m. lunch,

2 p.m. coffee,

4 p.m. coffee,

5 p.m. go home.

Right?

That's farm schedule.

However,

the shepherd here

throws out

his own agenda,

his own coffee,

his own lunch.

He throws out

his own sleep cycle,

in fact.

And he goes

without stopping

until he arrives

at the sheep.

His needs

fall after

the needs

of the sheep.

His care for self

comes second

to the care

for his flock.

You see,

Jesus is teaching

in this moment

that no person,

no harlot,

no thief,

no tax collector,

no religious elite,

no Israelite,

no Gentile,

no one,

no level of brokenness

could ever keep

the shepherd

from seeking for you.

You're never,

ever too far away

for the love of Jesus

to get to you.

And thirdly,

it's a burdensome search.

We see at the end

of this search

in Luke 15,

in this story,

that the shepherd

doesn't only find

the sheep,

he proceeds

to pick up the sheep

and carry him back.

I raise dogs,

have all my life,

love it,

but I tell you what,

when a dog runs off

and I have to go

seeking the dog,

I do so actively,

I do so incessantly,

but I promise you

I don't bear the burden

of the dog

at the end of the search.

That dog is going to march

its happy hind end

back to the kennel

alongside of me,

not on my shoulders.

Because I'm not Jesus.

But you see,

Jesus says that he carries

the lost sheep back.

He doesn't rebuke it

for wandering,

there's no scolding

that we see here.

Rather, he picks it up

and acts in a labor of love.

More selfless love.

He provides rest

to the sheep

at his own expense.

Let me tell you

a story real quick

about my brother Zach.

He came with our youth group,

he lives in California,

he's planting a church

in the San Diego area

right now.

God bless him.

But he came to Alaska

with the youth group

that I lead this summer.

And what happened

on one of the very first days

is one of the kids

on the way down a mountain

tripped and fell

and broke their toe.

Well, you see,

on the way down the mountain,

how far down is the question

and how far to go

is the problem.

It happened at the peak.

And so he needed help

getting all the way

back down the mountain.

My brother,

without saying a word,

picked his kid up

and put him on his shoulders

and hiked him down a mountain.

37% incline.

Didn't put him down

the whole time.

Didn't say a word.

Didn't complain

once all trip.

By day four of the trip,

we went on another hike

and my brother

had to walk down and up

both sides of the hike

backwards

because his knees

gave out every step

he took forwards.

He didn't complain once.

He did it with a smile

on his face

because God has given

my brother this capacity

to love like Jesus

and to love selflessly.

The same love,

the same shepherding gift

that God calls us,

his church,

to emulate.

And this all happens

and is first exemplified

by Jesus.

Like I said a while ago,

what he did at the cross,

as we'll say in a little while,

for you

and for many,

was a gift

that comes only

from a selfless heart,

a shepherd's heart.

And then God rejoices

in the finding

and redemption

of the lost.

This is the most spectacular

part of the story to me.

The most beautiful part

of Jesus

and our faith

is that

not only does he seek

and find,

he then rejoices.

See, he didn't get back

and then go take a nap

or sleep

and then rejoice.

He didn't plan a party

for some time

down the road.

As he was coming back

up the hill,

he says it's time

to have a party

because the sheep is back.

Right?

He doesn't break

because it's more important

to him that they celebrate

than anything else

in the world.

Rejoicing

is what God

calls his friends

and neighbors to

in the finding

of the lost sheep.

Much alike

one of our first

and foremost callings

as the church

ought to be rejoicing.

Rejoicing

the moment

and every moment

an unbeliever

claims Jesus.

There's no greater joy

for the shepherd

than the return

of the lost sheep.

And he gives everything

everything of himself

and his flock

and finds his ultimate joy

in the finding.

I want to step aside

from the story

for a second

to talk about

our church

and to talk about

core groups

and the vision

of core groups

briefly.

The O in core group

talks about

outward facing

being outward facing

communities.

What a beautiful vision.

Right?

The question then is

how many of our core groups

have made this a priority

and part of the essence

of the very group itself?

is your group focused

on being a family

for the lonely

the lost

for the abandoned

in your neighborhood?

It's a journey.

If you're sitting there

right now saying

no it feels a little bit

more like a

pharisaical click

don't worry.

The journey means

that growth happens

starting right there.

If you're sitting there

saying yeah

our group's really good

at that

wonderful

share with us

how you do it

so we can all learn better.

The easy tendency

in this

is to love each other

and fortify ourselves.

The struggle really

is to build relationships

instead of fences.

Right?

How many fences

do you see

or gates

in D.C.?

Well one around

nearly every government

building.

Right?

One around most walls.

We live in a culture

of fences

and Christ calls us

to take down fences

and instead

build relationships.

To those here tonight

without a core group

or maybe this is your

first time here at Advent

how beautiful

does it sound

to know that you

have a family

right here

in this room

and in your community

no matter where

you have been

or are

because we love you

we love you deeply

because Jesus

loves you deeply.

So all in all

where does this leave us?

I started by saying

this parable

is an offer

and a call

and so that's

where we'll return.

How is it an offer then?

It's an offer

to those who are lost

right now

wandering through life

scared

good news

the shepherd's

on his way

and he's not

taking a break

until he gets to you.

Right?

We don't have the capacity

to pursue God.

We can't

we can't do it

on our own.

We can't make the choice

to chase after him.

He has to make the choice

to pursue us

and thank God

he did.

But you see

in this pursuit

in this finding

there is a little bit

that we have

a role we have

to play in this

and that role

we can find

in verse 7

it says

just so

I tell you

there will be

more joy in heaven

over one sinner

who repents

than over 99

righteous persons

who need no repentance.

So what's our role

in this

what's our role

in this pursuit

and in this rescue?

It's that of repentance.

What does repentance

look like?

Jesus tells us

that too

in the parable.

He says

it's letting yourself

be carried

by the shepherd.

He says

it's owning

your lostness

by accepting

that carry

and by allowing

Jesus to put you

on his shoulders

and take us

back into

the Father's

loving arms.

That is repentance

allowing God

to give you grace.

let me ask you this

where in your lives

do you need

repentance today?

For me

it's happened

incredibly intensely

the last month

month and a half.

I told you

I grew up in Iowa

Iowa's slow

and I love it

for that.

I moved to Jamaica

Jamaica's slower.

I love it even more

for that.

And then I moved

to D.C.

And the word

slow doesn't exist

in the vocabulary

of the District

of Columbia.

You see

what had happened

to me

is I had

completely bought

into the power

of productivity.

I had completely

bought into the lie

that the busier

you are

and the more

you can get done

the more accomplished

your career

and the better

a person you are.

And you see

I felt pretty good

because almost

all of my time

is spent in the church

in some capacity.

But the deception

in that

is the power

of productivity

doesn't escape

the church either

and it doesn't

escape Christians.

You see

what God called me

to painfully

and it's still painful

but I'm in his arms

now

is to rediscover

Sabbath

and to orient

my life around

Sabbath

and resting

in his arms

to be willing

to stop

and say

God you are enough

and he's driven

me to that.

So think about

where God

is calling you

to rest

in his arms

today

because

I tell you what

there's nothing

better in the world

there's no greater

comfort or joy

than resting

in the Father's arms

completely

and totally.

And secondly

and lastly

then it's a call.

If it's an offer

for those

who are searching

those who are lost

those who are hopeless

it's a call

to the church.

It's a call

to Christ's body.

The New Testament

calls us

Christ's body

for a reason

because we're to

emulate the heart

of the shepherd.

It's a call

one because

the shepherd

has rescued us

from our lostness.

I could speak

on this for hours

but I think

it's better

to go to the source

one of the most

brilliant sources

that you'll ever read

St. Paul

and in 1st Timothy

he says this

Christ Jesus

came into the world

to save sinners

of whom I am

the worst.

Church

never forget

that we were all

lost

before we were found.

Know from

know where you came from

to know where you're going

right

where you're going

in Christ Jesus.

Two

make your lives

missional and outward.

That's the call.

It's a risky business

being a Christian.

It's never been promised

to be easy.

Right?

We can look all over

the world today

and see the terrible things

that are happening

to our brothers and sisters

across the world.

We can look back

in history

and see equally

as terrifying

and terrible of things.

But there's also

terrifying and terrible

things happening

in our culture

and they're even

harder sometimes

to deal with

because they're masked.

They're masked.

They're not blatant.

So you need to make

your lives

missional and outward.

We all need to do that.

Christ makes this claim

as he calls us

to pick up our cross

daily

and follow him.

Whether that's

through offering yourself

to DC 127

in some capacity.

Whether that's

to your co-workers

being a selfless worker.

or to your neighbors

in your community

through your core group

in your household.

The call is this

to be a place

and a people of rest

for a tired,

lost,

and lonely world.

And because

he is so brilliant

let's use

Dietrich Bonhoeffer

to close this out tonight

with a quote

from The Cost of Discipleship.

Costly grace

is the gospel

which must be sought

again and again and again.

The gift

which must be asked for.

The door

at which a man

must knock.

Such grace

is costly

because it calls us

to follow.

And it is grace

because it calls us

to follow Jesus Christ.

It is costly

because it costs

a man his life.

And it is grace

because it gives a man

the only true life.

It is costly

because it condemns sin.

And grace

because it justifies

the sinner.

Above all

it is costly

because it cost God

the life of his son.

Ye were bought

at a price

and what has cost God much

cannot be cheap for us.

Above all

it is grace

because God

did not reckon his son

too dear a price

to pay for our life

but delivered him up for us.

Costly grace

is the incarnation of God.

Let's pray.

Heavenly Father God

grace is costly

and it's beautiful.

No greater joy

no deeper hope

can be found

than in your salvation

than in the shepherd's

loving arms

setting at the seat

and the feet

of the Father.

God I ask

for all of us

in this room

and those who aren't

here tonight

that we can receive

both the offer

and the call

of you

the good shepherd

our Lord Jesus Christ

and ask

that our response

can be one

of repentance

and joy.

In your name we pray.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.