The Jesus Stories • The Story of the Lost Sheep

Welcome to the Willow Ridge Sermons podcast. This is

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Well, good morning. If you've got

your bibles, and I hope you do, I want to invite you to join us in Luke,

Luke 15 · chapter mention

chapter 15. That's where we're going to be this morning. A couple

things we just want to emphasize, parents, for our

kids camp. Early bird registration does end

today, and so please make sure you go and get your

kids, registered for that. But then also, we got our

new set of studies that are starting next week. M heard

wonderful things. Ah, Robert Stevens was able to

share his testimony and share with everybody this

morning our discipleship hour and had multiple people

coming up to me and tell me what a blessing that was. So thank you,

Robert, for being willing to share. But, next week, we're back

into our studies that we offer as a church. We got

some descriptions on those in the cards around.

Would love to have you join us during our discipleship

hour at 09:00 and be a part of that.

Well, it is summertime. It's a little weird,

right? Cause usually I think we're used to schools letting

out, at least here in South Carolina, in the Lexington

area in June, and now everybody's

out in May. And so our summer season is

starting. And with that, I think somebody told me it's hitting

like 92 tons of humidity. So we're gonna

feel the summertime starting today. All right? And

with that, we are starting our new summer series.

We're pausing on our genesis study that we've been

doing for a while, and we're going to start a new one called

the Jesus stories, and we'll explain why we're doing that.

We're doing a little different format as we have

most of our elementary kids in here with us

today. So I want to welcome our 3rd, fourth, and fifth graders.

Right. There's a high standard that I'm holding to

because I know the level of teachers that you guys have,

and I feel a little pressured this morning. I want to be honest with you

as we, as we walk through this, but excited to

have you join us for the entirety of worship

over the course of the summer. And it was wonderful

having our kindergarten, first and second graders with us

through worship and excited to see what they're going to be doing with our

students and with our youth workers as they

invest in them over the course of

this summer. Ah. But as we look at

this. We're going to do something a little bit different. We're

walking through during this summer series, the

parables, and we're calling them, the Jesus

stories because they are on a simple layer of the

stories that Jesus told. Now, going back, I was thinking

about this this morning. I remember as

a family, there was a day that

my dad purchased something,

and I thought, wow, we're

fancy. My

dad bought. I'm, Depending on the age demographic you're

in, I'm either old

enough to remember or young enough

to remember, either how you want to look at it?

I remember when my family got a

color tv. It was

the second heaviest thing in our house.

We had a piano, and then we

had our color tv.

Our color tv. It had all of the

electronics that a tv needed,

set in 500 pounds of wood,

that was not mounted on a wall, that

wasn't even sitting in a home entertainment

center, but set on a

mounted stand on our living room

floor. And it could

turn so that wherever your dad was

sitting, he could see the tv,

and you could not.

It did not come with a remote control.

So my name turned into remote

control, and I would run up to the

box. Right? Y'all are tracking with me now. Some of you generationally, this

hits, and it had that box on top of

it, and it started at channel two.

Why there was no channel one, I don't know. And

click. And my dad would watch. I don't want to watch

that click. I don't want to watch that click. And

that's how we would go through. And I remember that tv,

and I remember that day when I

was in high school that that tv died,

and it was like having to get a government permit to throw it

away anyway, right? not really sure what was in all

that. I tell you that story because that

tv is surrounded by some of my most fond

memories that we had together growing up as a family.

My dad was very busy. He worked very hard.

I was very busy with activities that I had.

My mom was a schoolteacher, and oftentimes had to

stay very late after school. But

on nights when we'd get together at our house on Fox Hill Drive

in north Augusta, and we'd have the opportunity to sit down together as

a family to have a meal,

my dad wanted to watch tv,

and so the tv, the living room, and where we ate

were in the same room, and we would turn that tv on at

530 and on TBS

at 530. Every day, there was a

tv show that came on this little

q and a. Now, all right. I want to see if you can get this

right. What tv show do you think came on

at, TBS, at 530? That my entire family watched

the Andy Griffith show. Right.

We'd watch Andy Griffith show, and my

memories of going back and remembering

the episodes of Andy Griffith. And still to

this day, I love to watch the Andy

Griffith show, but we would sit down at the table together.

We would watch the tv show together. And I think

back in the fondness of those memories of

being gathered around at the table now

in full transparency with how I was as a kid. I know that I've

told you guys this before, but, our table was round,

and so one chair,

the back of it, faced the living

room. And that's typically where my mom sat.

I say that's typically in an ideal

world, that's where my mom sat, unless

I was grounded, which was quite

often. And then I would

sit with my back to the tv

so that I would be reminded that, guess

what? I couldn't watch tv, right? And

so that's where we would find ourselves. But I remember this tv

show. I remember it was wholesome, it was funny.

It crossed, at least during that time, and I still think

today, because my kids love this show generationally, it

crossed age groups. And what was

great, kind of looking back on this now as a dad,

on every single episode, there

was a very simple, powerful

lesson to be learned. Over the

course of the summer, we're going to look at these

stories. The Bible calls them parables, what we refer

to them as, and we're gonna think that these are

just simple, easy

lessons to learn. And if we

do that, there's a bit of truth to this, of what

God does in his teachings,

where he breaks this down so that the

people around him could understand the setting and

the story that he tells. But they're

powerful, powerful

implications of the gospel.

Parable literally means to be cast

alongside. And so Jesus,

as he navigates throughout his life, would

find himself in situations where he

needed to communicate the truth of the gospel.

And what he would do was literally cast

alongside one of these,

stories to tell that would help

illustrate the truth that he was trying to teach.

It's about 35 parables found in the

gospel. And for a season

in life in the ministry of Jesus,

this was largely the way that Jesus

taught.

The theme of the

parables was always carried

with it, gospel implication,

or as I've heard them describe before,

and maybe you have as well. They were

earthly stories with heavenly meanings.

Jesus wanted them to see and

to understand, and for so many people, like we said, these

were simple, but they weren't simple at all. And, in

fact, oftentimes there would be some

confusion about what in the world is

Jesus actually saying? And

he'd pull his disciples, he'd pull those closest with him

to the side, and he'd explain to them

the meanings of these parables.

So, as we have our third through fifth graders in here, we got our

youth in here. We got our adults in here. We're all in here this summer. This is going to

be our journey that we go on, our kindergarten through

second graders. By the way, they're going to be studying the exact same parable

every single morning. And what I want us to wrap our

minds around is the power of the truth of the gospel

and in the revelation, as the Holy Spirit speaks to

us, so that we can grow in knowledge

and love and application

of the gospel in our lives.

All right, so let's read. We're going to the first one, the parable of the lost

sheep, Luke 15, verses one through

seven. It says, now the tax

collectors and sinners were all drawing

near to him, and the pharisees and

scribes grumbled, saying, this man

receives sinners and eats with them.

So he told them this parable, what

man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost

one of them, does not leave the 99 in

the open country. Go after the one that is

lost until he finds it. And when he

has found it, he lays it on his

shoulders, rejoicing. And when he comes

home, he calls together his friends and his

neighbors, saying to them, rejoice with

me, for I have found my sheep that was

lost. Just so I tell

you, there will be m more joy

in heaven over one

sinner who repents than over

99 righteous persons

who need no repentance.

It's a very interesting parable that we

see. There's some context

that's important for us to know, which

sparks Jesus to tell this

story of

this gathering, this flock of sheep,

and the one that wanders.

So let's look at the people who are here

in this mix of people that we

find in Luke chapter 15.

Luke 15 · chapter mention

are this

very gathering of

different groups of people that would have

created during the time of Christ

a, very religious, complex

dynamic and a complex

social dynamic as well.

The Bible tells us that gathered there were

tax collectors. All right, tax collectors.

These are not just people who go to work for the IR's.

The tax collectors were jewish men

hired by the roman government to collect

taxes. And you think, well, that's normal. That's what governments

have to do. But remember, Rome is the

oppressor. And so these

jewish men were betraying their

countrymen in order to partner

and make a living this way. It was

considered dishonest, it was considered

shady, it was considered being a

traitor. And what these tax

collectors would do is they had the percentage

that they would have to collect for Rome. And then they had

what they would determine to be in

themselves, a percentage that they would

collect for themselves. So this is for

Rome. This is for me. And as they

collected that number, there was

equal legal ramifications if you did

not pay that number. So tax collectors

were responsible for all sorts of

punishments that would happen to the jewish people

of that time who would not pay their taxes,

as were determined. Oh, and by the way,

if you ever ask yourself, how did Rome, how did

this empire, which in and of itself seems to

be very small as far as a group of

people who begin to spread out and

conquer much of the known world during that

time, how were they able to do this? Well, they

were able to do this through the taxes they

collected. So what would happen

is imagine being oppressed, feeling almost

imprisoned in your home, and you have to pay

a tax for this. And the tax that you are

paying is going to the tax collector who collects

it, and it's going to the army who oppresses

you. So tax

collectors, in and of not great reputations,

considered traders in many

instances, those who would be

excluded from the normal,

functioning, respected people of

society. And then the Bible says that there

were tax collectors and sinners that had

gathered near to Jesus. So what do they

mean with sinners? Well, if you've been around

church, here's what you know, man. We're all sinners saved by

grace. We're all sinners saved by grace.

I'm, a sinner, you're a sinner, everybody's a sinner. And it's the

grace of God that saves us from our sin.

Oftentimes, though, when we see

sinners like this context listed

in the scripture that we see here in the gospel,

what they're trying to imply in

this moment is that these are a group

of people who don't just simply

commit sins, okay? But they are

people who choose sinful

lifestyles and who are known for that

sinful lifestyle. So their sin

has become to use them or been

used for them, to define them and to

describe them. This isn't your

everyday. I just need to get a few things figured

out, buttoned up. people that the Bible has

said has drawn near or

gathered around

Jesus. But we do find that this is

a typical reaction from these people. That

there is something about Christ, there's

something about his message. There's something

about him that would

cause offense to some. But

would cause others, in their

brokenness, to draw near

him. Then there is another

dynamic of the group that was there. The Bible says that there

were scribes and Pharisees that were

there. Two very similar

groups of people, but very different,

in essence, in some things that they did. The scribes found

in both the Old Testament and the New Testament. And the

description of them would be that they

were educated men.

Who would study scripture,

transcribe scripture. And

oftentimes write commentaries on

scripture. So that people would understand what

the scripture was talking about. In essence, their job

was to know and preserve God's word.

And encourage others to use it. Right. Like,

sounds like a good group of people to have around. You can say

like they were the academic theologians

of the day in the time of Christ.

But however, many of them would have

aligned themselves. With these religious

rulers, the Pharisees of the day, who had

moved from preserving, the

authenticity of God's word. And what God had

communicated. And instead began to build

in man made expectations. For

those who, would follow God. So they were taking what they were

educated in. And then manipulating that

for an uneducated crowd that did not know, that

did not understand. So that they could gain for themselves

some type of personal piety that they were striving

for. And this is what we found with the scribes.

And then we find the Pharisees.

Right. these influential

jewish leaders within the time of

Christ. Mostly came from a middle

class businessman. And leaders in the

synagogue. And in their love.

But misunderstanding of the law,

they added to it. And they are known

throughout scripture as hypocritical, as,

self righteous. And the proud opponents

of Christ. They will be at the

center of most of the conflict. That we

find with the teachings of Christ. And

placed within this group is

Jesus. Not a tax

collector,

not a sinner, not a

scribe, not a Pharisee.

The deity and the fullness

of God and the

humanity of JeSus.

Standing amongst this group of

PeoplE, to see

the peoplE.

And there's a problem that arises. It's a

problem that comes up. Look back at verse two,

says in the Pharisees. And the scribes

grumbled, saying, this man receives

sinners and eats with him.

This man receives sinners and eats with

them. So what's the problem?

What's the problem with this? Why are they

so worried about

Jesus and who he's gathered

with and who he associates himself with and

who is drawn to them. Well, Jesus was

considered a rabbi, and

a rabbi is a member of the clergy

and the religion of Judaism. And

rabbis often function as leaders of

the synagogue to provide instruction

on JEwish traditions And hebrew

scriptures. And so rabbis would preach Sermons,

interpret the Old Testament, perform other

functions similar to what you would see of

what, what I do as a christian pastor. This

is what largely, they would do. Now,

Jesus was never a part of the

official temple leadership, but he

was still considered a rabbi and called

rabbi and responded to that in his day

to day ministries. So they see

this man who others refer to,

who others look at as a teacher of

God's word of the scriptures, and they see this

group of people, of tax collectors and

sinners coming to him. And not only

coming to him, but he's receiving

them. He said, yeah, yeah, yeah,

yeah. You come, you come,

you come. And

their issue is this. These people,

these sinners, these tax collectors,

are not worthy people of

the knowledge and the blessing of God.

And that Jesus, this man of

faith, should not be

someone who welcomes them,

should not be someone to receive

them.

Jesus should

not, because they're

unworthy to be

someone who enters into

relationship with him.

And this is the problem where we

find, and so scripture tells us in

chapter two that they begin to

grumble. This is the question they have.

Nobody stands up. Sometimes they do.

Sometimes they question Jesus.

They directly address him. Sometimes

scriptures say that they grumbled or they talked amongst

themselves. Sometimes they don't even do

that. They begin to think thoughts. And what I

love in these interactions, and we'll see some of these,

is that Jesus either hears

their grumble, which we see,

or he just

knows the

divinity and of God, of who he is.

He knows the condition of their heart.

And so he addresses their

complaint. But he does throw

so through a story.

He does so through this parable.

And Jesus here gives them the

solution. Jesus says, you got a problem

with what I'm doing? You got a

problem with who? Huh? I receive.

Jesus says, well, let me explain to you what's

happening. The parable that Jesus

tells would be a common problem that everyone

there would have known about in a world where

we don't necessarily live in a world where

there's lots of shepherds, right? In

that sense, this would have been a

culture that understands. So Jesus says, there's

this shepherd, and he has 100 sheep,

and one has wandered off.

What would happen during the time these shepherds,

they would have their sheep they would take them around, they would let

them graze, and then they would bring them back into

a field where they would pasture them, where they would keep them

at night. And when the shepherd would be there with all of

the workers who were around at night, they would go,

and they would count every single sheep

so that they could be, so that they could know, did one

wander off? Did multiple wander off of where we need to

go and what we need to do? So Jesus says that there's the

shepherd, and at night, and he

notices, man, I had 100

sheep, and there's one gone.

And what he decides to do is to go

find out where the problem is. And

so the shepherd would leave the 99. And there's

been a lot of debate about this. Does the

shepherd not care about the 99? And I just want to say

this. No, the shepherd cares about the 99.

But see, the 99 are being cared for.

The 99 have been pastured. The

99 have been. But there's

one. There's

one. And so the shepherd

says, I'm gonna go. It's not that I don't

care about this group, but I'm gonna go out, and I want

to find this, and I want to be willing to find this

sheep. Sheep

could be hurt. The sheep who could be

dehydrated, the sheep who needed

to be taken care of. And when he

finds the sheep, the

shepherd picks the sheep up

and carries the sheep back. You

see, this sheep, for this shepherd

represents something. You see, these

sheep are the reason that the

shepherd is in the field. You

see, for the shepherd, the sheep

have value.

A shepherd would be willing to

fight for his sheep.

A shepherd would be willing to lay down

his life for the sheep. The shepherd

are willing to go find a lost,

wandering sheep, because that's

who the shepherd is.

The shepherd is the one

that is responsible for and

cares for the sheep.

God as our shepherd

is an illustration and is a picture that's

common in scripture. Jesus in the

New Testament is referred to as the good

shepherd. Many times in the Old

Testament, God is referred to as our

shepherd. 23rd psalm being one of the

most common ones that we think of.

The Bible both refers to the

Israelites as sheep and

all those who come to faith in

Christ as sheep. And

in our world, sometimes

being called sheep

is not positive. But in the

time of Christ, in the context of

scripture, it is a beautiful image

about our relationship with our

creator, with our savior,

with our messiah, with our God.

He is the good shepherd,

and we follow him.

He protects us.

We go after

him as he has found us

as he has rescued us, as

he has given his life for

us. We are the

sheep that follow him.

But, the climax

of this story

is not just that the

sheep has been found. The

climax of the story that Jesus

tells. Doesn't end

out in a pasture.

Where he is grateful and

excited that this sheep that

he loves has now been gathered.

But it ends in a party.

Look at verse six.

And when he comes home,

he calls together his friends

and his neighbors, saying

to them, rejoice with

me, for I have

found my sheep

that was lost.

Why does everyone rejoice

when the sheep was found?

They gather with him. They

celebrate. You see, they don't

look at the sheep

as a problem. They

don't look at their tendency to

wander too much and say, well, they get what

they deserve.

They don't look at the

sheep that wanders

and say, you know what?

That's just what, sheep like that do.

They don't say, you know what? It doesn't matter.

I've got enough sheep back

here. They say, no,

there's value in that one

that's gone. And so the

shepherd

sees what's his.

He goes and gets. And they

celebrate. Verse seven.

Jesus 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.

Remember? Let's go back.

What is the problem

that Jesus is addressing?

Why does Jesus

allow fellowship with

these types of people?

Why does Jesus

receive people

like this?

Who says that? It's the

Pharisees and the scribes. Let me ask you

this question.

Who is worthy

to have fellowship with God?

Who's worthy? I

think my answer may surprise you.

You see, the Pharisees and the scribes,

they thought that they were worthy.

They thought they deserved fellowship with God.

Look what they had done. Look what they had

accomplished. Look what they had achieved.

Look how obedient they are. Look at what they've

done. Look at what they made themselves into.

Look at their good religious

understanding, especially compared to

all those others. And their

fellowship with God was

found in themselves of

what they've made themselves to be.

But then, but

then there are

those, Jesus says,

who repent. Who

repent. And in

their repentance, here's what they

understand. They understand who

they are. They're a

lost sheep

wandering in a field,

certain to die in a

situation that they've gotten themselves

into because of what they've

chosen.

They understand that that's who they are.

But they understand that there

was a shepherd who came and got

him. They understand that there

was a shepherd who said, no, that's my

sheep. And that in their

response, they know who

they are. They know

who he is. And their

response is, Jesus,

I'm not worthy. Jesus, I'm

not worthy. I

repent of who I am.

I repent of who I've done. Of

what I've done. I repent

of who I've become. That in all

of me. Consumed with

sin. And Jesus, through his work

on the cross and the power of the

resurrection, forgives

them, saves them,

puts them on his shoulders and

carries them back. And we

celebrate. And we

celebrate because of the

work that he has

done.

I wish I could tell you.

I wish I could tell you that

I haven't thought the thought

that some of these Pharisees carried.

I wish I could stand up here. But it

would be in lies and self righteousness.

And say that those thoughts have never crossed my mind.

But it's the beauty of what God brings us to.

So I want to ask you this. How do

you come to Jesus? How do you come to

Jesus? Is it through your

works and through who you are? Or is it

through who he is?

And when it's found in who he is,

our worth is in him, and we

can come to him. But then

also, how do you see others?

How do you see others? Do we see

others in categories?

Those who don't deserve and those who do?

Or do we see the mission field that

God, has for us. And the call

that God has placed on our lives.

To spread the message of the shepherd

to pharisees, to scribes, to

tax collectors and sinners just like you and

me. Would you pray with me,

God? I come to you this morning, Lord, and just

in the goodness and grace, Lord, of who you are,

of understanding

of your heart. To

see men and

women come into relationship with

you. To

see men, women and children.

To repent before you.

To understand that it is not through their work, through

their ability, through their righteousness,

Lord, that relationship is

found, but is found in

who you are. And in what you've done.

God. And I thank you.

I thank you for your work that you did in my

life.

Where you captured the heart

of this sinful rebel.

And turned him into

a child of the living God.

God, I pray if there's anyone here this

morning.

And, Lord, they're standing as

found in anything else

other than in their relationship with Christ,

Lord. That they would know that

it is insufficient for

salvation.

God help us.

We live in a world

consumed with

lostness. Hey, God. It

is easy. It is easy

to look and to have the heart of a

pharisee, to have the heart of a

scribe and think, no, no, no, Lord, not them,

not them, not them.

Instead of yes,

Lord, how was

them?

Lord, help us see

people the way that you see

them. Have us

share with them the message

of the gospel

and Lord, too, may we

celebrate.

May there be sounds

of great joy.

May there be hearts of

great joy in

one, one of one

sinner who repents. God, I

thank you that we are all

unworthy, that we are made

worthy by the blood of the lamb

found in you and in you

alone. It's in Jesus name we

pray.

Thanks again for listening and be sure to check back next

week for another episode. In the meantime, you

can visit [email protected] or by

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