Reckless Love? (Luke 15:1-7) | Louis Azuma

Speaker: We are gonna be in Luke chapter 15, and, uh, there's a,

Luke 15 · chapter mention

there's a pretty famous worship song that has to do with this passage.

So, um, we're gonna be in Luke 15 I don't know if you guys have ever seen

someone who, like, loves something so much that it kinda seems ridiculous.

You ever seen someone who cares so much about, like, I don't know, maybe it's a

game or maybe it's a, uh, maybe you're, like, not into sports and you're like,

"Why do these people like sports so much?"

Or I don't know if you've ever seen that, but there's times when

someone loves something that doesn't seem like it's worth it, right?

There's times there … You, you see someone loving something or, or some

activity or they really like something and you're like, "I, I don't see it.

I, I, I just don't get it."

Like, for me, that's, um, I just … That's me with cilantro.

I'm like, I just don't like it.

I don't get it.

E- everyone loves Mexican food, everyone loves all this stuff, and I'm just

like, "Uh, can't really do it," right?

Case in point would be, like, Chipotle.

I know everyone loves Chipotle.

I just, just don't see it, right?

It seems weird to me.

But I want you to think about, like, that picture, right?

Someone who loves something a- and it's just like, you're like, "That's so dumb.

Like, why would you ever do that?

Why would you ever care that much about something that

matters that little," right?

Uh, that's what we're gonna see in this passage, okay?

And, and what we're gonna see is that God's love doesn't

really make sense to us.

It's hard for us to make sense of why God loves the way He does, okay?

So we are gonna be in Luke 15.

So if you're not already there, turn there in your Bibles to Luke 15.

So what's happening here, um, Jesus is gonna ask a question, right?

Now, obviously that's our, that's our series.

We're looking at questions Jesus asked, but this is a parable.

So if you don't know what a parable is, a parable is just a story.

It's a made-up story that Jesus is using to make a point.

So a parable, it's a story that illustrates his point, right?

And we're gonna start here in Luke 15:1, and you'll notice this parable

Luke 15:1

is actually told to specific people.

So this story isn't just, you know, in the Bible and, and

just not for you to learn about.

This story is actually a response to something that is really happening.

So here's what's happening.

So the tax collectors and sinners, these are, like, the worst

people you could think of, right?

The people … These people don't go to church, right?

These are the not religious people.

The tax collectors and sinners, they're all drawing near

to Jesus to hear him teach.

That's who "him" is.

So they all, they all wanna hear Jesus.

So think about this and how weird this would be, right?

Jesus is the, the religious teacher, right?

When you think of Jesus, you, you think of a, a, a good person, right?

You think of a guy who's, who loves God, who, who knows his

Bible, who's, who's doing what he's supposed to be doing, right?

And what's happening is all of the bad people are coming to hear Jesus.

All the people that you wouldn't expect to talk to Jesus.

The people that you wouldn't expect Jesus to hang out with, right?

And you think about your school, right?

I know at my high school, there was the McDonald's across the parking

lot, and that was where all the bad kids went after, after school, right?

You didn't go to McDonald's after school unless you were one of those kids, right?

That's, in the sense, where Jesus is.

Jesus is with all the bad kids, right?

He's hanging out with the tax collectors and sinners, and

they're all coming to him.

And so the Pharisees, these are the, you know, the, the church kids, right?

The Pharisees and scribes, the, the teachers of the Bible at

this time, they're grumbling.

They're upset.

They don't like that this is happening.

They're like, "This man, Jesus, he's receiving sinners.

He's welcoming them.

He's, you know, he's hanging out with them.

He's eating with them."

In this culture, sharing a meal with someone was a big deal.

It was kinda like saying, "We're friends," right?

Um, it's like sitting with them at lunch, right?

It, it shows that you care about these people, and you

wanna be with these people.

This man receives sinners and eats with them.

So he told them this parable.

So this story that Jesus is gonna tell is a response to these people, okay?

So the, the story is a response to what's happening.

He's…

These Pharisees, these, these religious people are really upset about who Jesus

is hanging out with, and so Jesus is gonna respond to them with a story.

But before we get into the story, I just wanna look at these people, okay?

These people, they're grumbling.

They're upset at Jesus, and that's because they don't like that

Jesus is associating with sinners.

They don't like it because they think that Jesus should love the people that

they think are worthy of God's love.

They think Jesus should love the good people, right?

The nice people, the kind people, the, the church people, right?

They think Jesus should love the people that they're like,

"Yep, those are good people.

Those are our people.

Jesus should love the people that are like us, not the people

that are like those guys."

So I want you to see these people, and I want you to not be like them.

So our first point, don't be a grumpy Pharisee, right?

Grumbling, grumpy Pharisee.

Don't, don't be one of these people.

Don't be a grumpy Pharisee.

They don't like that Jesus loves these sinners and is associating with them.

They don't like that he's hanging out with them.

They don't like that he's teaching them.

They don't like that he's letting them even…

He's just letting them live.

He's not being like, "You guys are bad.

What are you doing?"

Right?

The Pharisees at the time, they're like, "Oh, we don't wanna talk to those people.

Those are the bad people."

Right?

And the reason behind that, that we'll see, is that these people thought that

God only loves lovable people, right?

God only loves good people.

God only loves people that deserve it, people that have worked for it, right?

'Cause the Pharisees, think about this, right?

This is Jesus, right?

He's supposed to be, uh, some people are saying he's the Messiah, right?

And they're like, "Okay, well, who's the Messiah gonna hang out with?

Who's our king that we've been waiting for from the whole Old Testament,

who's he gonna hang out with?"

They're like, "Well, it should be us, right?

We've been keeping the law.

We've been reading the Bibles.

We've been giving our money to, to, to the temple.

We've been doing all this great stuff.

We've memorized all these things."

And they're like, "Of course, when the Messiah comes,

who's he gonna wanna be with?

Us, right?

'Cause we're doing, we're doing this."

Right?

It'd be, it'd be like, imagine if, if Jesus came to your school,

and you're like, "Oh, yeah, who's Jesus gonna sit with at lunch?

Oh, yeah, he's gonna sit with the FCA people," right?

Or, "Oh, Jesus is gonna sit with the, the Christian kids.

Jesus…"

And, and imagine Jesus goes and he sits down with all the kids that,

like, do drugs at your school.

You'd be like, "What?

Why is Jesus with those people?

That's not where he should be.

He should be with the people that, that are, are good kids,

that are upstanding," right?

"That, that do their homework, that, that turn in their, their things on time, that

the teachers like and respect," right?

So it bothers them because they think Jesus should only love

the people who are lovable.

And I wonder if you ever do this.

I wonder if you ever think, "Man, those people, they don't deserve God's love."

Or maybe, maybe you think of it a different way.

You kinda set boundary markers for who you think God would love.

"Well, I wouldn't share the gospel with that person because they wouldn't

listen anyway," or, "I, I, I don't, I don't need to forgive that person

'cause they're, they're not…

I don't need to be kind to that person," right?

"'Cause they're really annoying.

They're really frustrating.

I don't need to love them."

Right?

That's what the Pharisees did.

They said, "Those people, those sinners, those tax collectors, they

don't deserve God's love, but we do."

And so maybe you are a Christian, and that's how you feel.

Or maybe you're not a Christian, and you're on the opposite.

Maybe you're one of the tax collectors and sinners.

You're one of the bad kids and, and you're thinking, "Well, God would never love me."

I want you to see that God's love is different, right?

God doesn't just love the people who've worked for it, people

that seem like they deserve it.

God loves the people who know they don't deserve it.

And sometimes, even if you've been a Christian for a while, you

can trick yourself into thinking that you deserve God's love.

Right?

I, I know I've done this, and I'm sure if, if you've been a Christian for any length

of time, you can start thinking, "Yeah, it makes sense that God would save me,

'cause I, I don't say those words anymore.

I don't make those jokes anymore.

I don't do those things anymore."

Or, "I, I was a good kid growing up.

I listened to my parents.

I did the nice things.

I, I was generally, you know, obedient.

I like church.

I like God."

It's easy for you to trick yourself into thinking, "Yeah,

it makes sense that God loves me.

I, I've been doing this Christian thing pretty well," or, "God didn't really

save me from that many bad things."

And then you start looking down at the, the people who aren't like you, right?

Who, who don't know their Bible like you, who don't serve at church,

who, who maybe listen to different worship music than you or, or believe

different theology than you, and you start thinking, "Oh, well, I'm more

deserving of God's love than them."

Right?

"If Jesus wanted to hang out with someone at my school, he'd hang out

with me, not them, 'cause I have good theology, and they, they don't."

Right?

"I believe all five points of Calvinism, and they don't."

Right?

Or, "I, I, I sing hymns, and they sing, you know, elevation," right?

Maybe that's you.

Right?

It's, it's easy for you to, to think that, and you think, start

thinking, "I'm so lovable."

Right?

"I'm, I'm so this.

I'm so that."

And we start realizing, oh, well, actually, that's us saying, "I deserve

God's love, and those people don't."

And maybe it's like, well, yeah, I know I don't deserve God's love, but you're

just like, "I don't deserve it, but I deserve it more than those people."

Right?

And that's still not ex- not what's happening here.

That what the Pharisees are doing is, is they're saying, we're … Maybe,

'cause may- I'm sure if you ask the Pharisees, they'd say, "Yeah,

you know, salvation is not earned.

It's not by works."

But they might say that, right?

And there's a lot of Christians that would say that, but the

way they live is not that way.

The way they live is, "Oh, I'm better than those people," right?

Of course, God would save me.

It makes sense that God would save me, but he wouldn't save those people.

A good way to test this, if you're a grumpy Pharisee, is when you see sin,

right, when someone sins against you, or when you see people living in sin,

do you move towards them in compassion or do you look down on them in disgust?

Right, when, when someone offends you, right, when someone, let's say

someone gossips about you, right, or someone is really mean to you.

Do you respond by looking down on them?

"I can't believe they did that."

Can, can you tell your friends, "Oh, can you believe this person said that?"

Right?

And you're upset at their sin, you're mad at their sin, 'cause

you're making it about you, right?

Or do you say, "I…

They need help."

Right?

"I, I we need to love this person."

Right?

Or when someone maybe has, maybe they're, they have really angry,

different views than you do, right?

Maybe they, they believe really untrue things, and maybe you see them online or

you see them at school a- and you're, y- you feel like they're an enemy, right?

Which in a sense, I understand that, right?

But at the same time, they need you to move towards them in compassion, right?

Not against them in judgment.

Or maybe your friend, your friend sins against you, your

friend lets you down, right?

Your, you promise … Your friend s- you know, you said, "Hey,

don't tell anyone this, but, you know, I like this person," right?

And then your friend goes and tells everyone.

And then do you think, "Oh, this is, this is an opportunity for

me to forgive them and love them.

I need to move towards them."

Or are you like, "Oh, I'm done with you."

Right?

You don't, you don't have to tell them your secrets anymore, right?

That's okay.

But do you move towards them in compassion or do you move away from them because

you're like, "Oh, I'm done with you."

Right?

That's the Pharisee way to do it, is, "I'm done.

I'm isolating."

Right?

"You're, you're not worth it."

And we look down on other people, right?

And, and all that, all…

What all that comes down to is what Jesus says at the very end of this parable.

At the very end, the way this story ends is he says that heaven, right,

God in heaven, is more excited about people who repent than people who

don't think they need to repent.

Right?

If, if you think, "Oh, I'm good.

I've got it all together.

I don't need to repent.

I don't have any sin in my life.

There's…

I'm not really doing it.

I'm, I'm sure there is, but, you know, overall, I, you know,

I'm, I'm doing great," right?

When you start thinking, "I'm good enough without God," or I'm

comparing myself laterally, I'm better than other people, right?

That's when you're one of these people.

Right?

That's when you're grumbling and you're judging and you're looking down.

Instead of being someone who says, "I need repentance."

Right?

"I, I'm actually one of these people, just like they are."

So don't be a grumpy Pharisee.

So that, Jesus tells this parable, this story, and it's a response

to what's happening, right?

It's a response to these grumpy Pharisees who are, who are looking

down on the tax collector and sinners.

They're upset at Jesus.

They're saying, "Jesus, why are you, why do you spend time with people?

These people don't deserve it.

You should spend time with the good people."

And so Jesus tells them a story.

Tells them a story.

Told them this parable.

He says, "Which one of you having 100 sheep, if he lost one of

them, does not leave the 99 in the open country and go after the one

that is lost until he finds it?"

Which is funny 'cause no one would do this.

This is objectively dumb.

I hope you understand this, right?

This is objectively not a good idea.

If you're a shepherd and you leave your 99 sheep to go after your one lost

sheep, when you come back, guess what?

You're gonna have 99 more lost sheep, right?

This is not good shepherding advice, right?

If any of you wanna be a shepherd when you grow up, don't do this.

Bad idea.

But Jesus' point in this parable, right, is, well, we're gonna get to the, the,

the main point is the shepherd, right?

He's the star.

The, this guy, right?

He's the star.

But before we get there, I want you to focus on the sheep, okay?

Because in this story, sometimes when you read a parable, it's

important to think, who am I, right?

Am I part of this story?

Well, in this case, we are.

So point number two, identify as a lost sheep.

Right?

When you read this parable, you're not the shepherd.

You're not one of the 99 sheep that's doing good, you know, being a great

sheep, obedient in the pasture, right?

In this parable, you and I, we're the one that's way out there doing who knows what.

Right?

That's us

I use the word identify.

I know our culture, that's, that's a loaded term.

But I just want you to th- th- this is my identity, right?

I'm the l- I'm the lost sheep.

I want you to, to embrace that about yourself.

I don't know if you guys still do this.

Do you fill out, like, for the AP tests and stuff, or like the SAT, do you fill

out, like, your ethnicity and your name and all that stuff, like the bubbles?

They always ask me, like, college applications do the same thing.

They ask me, like, are you, you know, are you white?

And then are you, like, other races?

I always put Asian 'cause I felt like it would give me a better

chance to get into college.

Um- … 'cause I'd be a, like, a…

Which I did get a scholarship from a college in Ohio for, for

being diverse, so it worked.

Um, but then I heard later that you shouldn't do that because there's actually

a lot of Asian people that are t- there's, like, too many Asian people at college.

Anyway, that's a whole 'nother thing.

But- Wow … all that to say, right, is I am just as…

I'm half Japanese, right?

So I'm just as Asian as I am white, right?

But I embraced that half of who I was, right?

For those purposes, right?

So anyway, that's all I want you to say.

I want you to embrace this about you, right?

I don't want you to embrace your goodness.

I don't want you to embrace, "Oh, I'm a church kid.

I grew up going to church."

I don't want you to embrace that.

I want you to embrace the fact that I am a lost sheep.

I, I'm not, I'm not like the, the really good sheep that's doing…

'Cause that's what the Pharisees thought.

They're like, "We're doing good.

We're succeeding at life."

So identify as the lost sheep.

There's a couple things that we can learn about sheep, um,

that teach us about us, right?

First thing, sheep are helpless, right?

Sheep, uh, one pastor, the way he put it, he said, "Sheep

don't have, um, survival skills.

They don't have, um, attack mode."

And the way he put it was that survival of the fittest means sheep are doomed.

He said one of the best arguments against evolution is that sheep exist.

Because sheep can't really do anything.

Sheep are, are very dumb.

Sheep are helpless.

They can't really…

I mean, they, they need to have someone to lead them to find their food.

They do really dumb things.

They, they get hurt, they get stuck, they, they fall off cliffs.

They do really dumb things.

Um, and I want you to see that about yourself, right?

When you, when you say g- "The Lord is my shepherd," you're

not complimenting yourself.

I hope you understand that.

'Cause then you're saying, "I'm a sheep," right?

And that's not a compliment.

Saying that you're a sheep does not mean you're cute and fluffy and so lovable,

and of course God would save you because you're like a walking cloud, right?

No.

That's not what the Bible means when it says that we're sheep, right?

It, it means that we're helpless.

We can't rescue ourselves.

If, if a sheep is out in the wild, that sheep is gonna be dinner real soon.

Sheep's not gonna survive very long.

There's no horns to defend itself.

It's not gonna run away.

It's not got any camouflage, right?

Sheep is, is done.

I want you to see that that's us.

We have no hope.

Uh, the sheep's not gonna find its way back, right?

Dogs come back to the flock or to the house, right?

Dogs…

Well, if they're a sheep dog, they'll come back to the flock.

But, um, sheep don't do that, right?

Sheep can't find their way home, right?

I- in this story, you and I, we're the lost sheep.

We're not coming back unless someone comes and gets us, right?

We're not gonna survive on our own.

Yeah, I'm good.

I don't need a shepherd.

Maybe that's you.

Maybe you think, 'I don't need a shepherd.

I'm good on my own.

I don't need God.

I like the way I'm living.'

And the Bible says if that's you, you're tricking yourself.

You're like a sheep wandering around saying, 'Yeah, the wolves can't hurt me.

I'm stronger than the wolves.

I'm faster than the wolves.'

You're just tricking yourself, and you're gonna- someone's gonna eat you

But also sheep are in danger, right?

I want you to see that too, right?

When you are apart from God, you are in danger.

You're not just cruising through life waiting, you know, maybe, maybe you're

putting off becoming a Christian.

You're not just like, "Oh, yeah, cool.

I'm just waiting and it'll be good."

You're in danger.

You're like a vulnerable sheep walking around, and if a wolf comes

and, and attacks you, you're dead.

No chance

But something else I want you to see about this sheep is that

objectively, like we said, rescuing the sheep is not worth it, right?

This sheep is one out of a hundred.

Right, there's some sports where succeeding 30% of the time

means you're an all-star, right?

There's some sports where succeeding 50% of the time means

you had a good season, right?

Even, and you think about school, right?

Succeeding most of the time means you passed

And this shepherd, 99%, right?

That's pretty good.

A+, right?

4.0

GPA

This is objectively not worth it to go after this sheep.

Right?

This is not a good investment.

And I want you to see that objectively it's not a good

investment for God to love you.

You're not bringing all this value to the table to God, right?

God's not like, "Wow, I'm so glad that I saved Matt because now

I've got Matt on my team," right?

God's not like, "Wow, that's the…

Man, I'm so lucky that n- that, you know, that Clay is part of the church," right?

"That's so awesome."

Right?

God's not l- God's not thinking that, right?

Does, does God need me or Clay or Matt, right?

No, he doesn't.

Right?

So-

That's, but the thing is, right, that's what makes God's love so incredible,

is because it's not like you're bringing all this value to God, but

he still says, "I'm going to go after this sheep, and I'm gonna love them."

Right?

That, and that's what's so crazy about it is, is what God is saying is, is, "Yeah,

I, I'm not actually gaining anything from going after you to save you."

But he wants to do it because he loves you and he cares, which is, which

is so awesome to think about, right?

That's what makes God's love so incredible.

And I think we should probably talk about this.

That, that, that's why some people call this reckless, right?

That's why there's a really popular worship song about

this, this passage, right?

They say God's love is reckless because this shepherd, right, he, he leaves

these 99 sheep and he goes after the one, and he doesn't care about what

happens to the other sheep, right?

He's leaving them unprotected, and so that's, that's why the, the,

that, that song exists, right?

Because…

And I understand what the author's trying to do.

What the author's trying to do is highlight the fact that, that God loves

people at great cost to himself, right?

There's, there's no advantage to it, right?

God's not getting a lot out of loving you.

In fact, you know how God, what God had to do to love you?

He, he killed his son Right?

This is what God did to love you.

He became a man.

He left heaven, became a man, lived a perfect life in a sinful

world, was rejected, beaten, mocked, nailed to a cross, died,

suffered the full wrath of God.

And yes, he rose from the dead, but that's not, uh, that's not worth it, right?

For- 'cause who, who did he do that for?

Me and you?

No, not worth it, right?

So, that's why some people call it reckless, right?

I understand what they're trying to do.

They're trying to highlight the fact that God says, "I'm going to, to do all of

this at great cost for, for my sheep."

Right?

Now, the reason that we don't sing that song at our church is just because we

don't wanna call God reckless, right?

'Cause reckless, not a compliment, generally speaking.

Right?

So, that's just why we don't sing that song at our church is, is we don't think

God's love is, like, careless, right?

'Cause when, when someone's reckless, we'd say they're, they're careless

or they're wasteful or they're…

Right?

So, that's why we don't sing that song, just so you know,

in case you were wondering.

Um, but I understand what the author's trying to do, right?

He's trying to highlight the fact that this shepherd says, "I'm gonna

leave all of this, and I'm gonna search, and I'm gonna find this

sheep because I love this sheep."

And is it worth it?

No.

It's just one sheep, right?

You would just say, "Oh, it's fine.

It's just one sheep.

Don't worry about it."

But God says, "No, I'm gonna, gonna love these people

And so really the, the star of this story is the shepherd, right?

So Jesus saying, "What man of you having 100 sheep, if he's lost one

of them, does not leave the 99 in the open country and go after the

one that's lost until he finds it?

And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders rejoicing."

Man, there's so much good stuff here, but the point here is the shepherd, right?

The shepherd is searching for the sheep.

So point three, run to the searching shepherd.

All right, Jesus is the shepherd in this story, right?

He's saying, "That's me."

All right, you're the sheep, Jesus is the shepherd

And I wanna highlight a few things about this shepherd for you.

Um

I want you to see the shepherd, he is proactive, right?

The shepherd, he doesn't wait until the sheep is like, "Hey, uh, I'm lost.

Please save me."

Right?

He goes after it, right?

He, he takes initiative to do that.

And I want you to see God's love is like that, right?

God loves first.

God doesn't wait for you to be lovable before He loves you, right?

God doesn't wait for you to start doing better or being a better

kid before He loves you, right?

God doesn't wait for you to show potential before He's like, "You know what?

I'll, I'll invest in you.

I'll, I'll help you out."

Right?

God goes after the lost sheep while it's still lost

And if you're, if you've been loved by God, that's the way

you're gonna love people.

We talked about this last week, right?

If, if you're one of God's sheep, you're gonna love this way too.

You're gonna take the first step to love, right?

You're not gonna wait for someone to love you first and then say,

"Okay, now, now it's worth it.

Now I'll love you."

Right?

You're gonna say, "I'm gonna love you even if you don't love me back."

And that's risky, right?

'Cause it, they might let you down.

They might hurt you.

They might not be worth it.

It might be bad for your reputation to love that person

But God's love is proactive

I also want you to see that his love is persistent here.

He goes after the one that's lost until he finds it.

Earlier in, um, in John 13, it says that Jesus loved his disciples until the end.

Right, God doesn't love you some days and then stop loving you the other days.

Right?

God doesn't only love you when you're doing good and

it's easy for him to love you.

He loves you when you don't love him back, right?

He loves you when you're not spending time in his word, right?

He loves you when you're not very excited to go to church.

He loves you even after your worst sins.

God still loves his sheep, right?

It's persistent.

It doesn't change.

It, it-- You can't outrun God's love for you if you're one of his sheep

And again, right, if you have been loved by God that way, that's the

lo- way we wanna love people, right?

We don't wanna love people a lot one day and then, "Well,

I don't feel like it today.

It's too hard.

Not gonna do it anymore

Then also, I just want you to see just the, the compassion here, right?

When he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders rejoicing.

If you found that, like, imagine you were the shepherd, right?

And you spent days.

You're, you're wandering the open country, right?

You're, you're sleeping on, you know, on, with a rock as your pillow,

and, and you've l- left your sheep.

You left your family behind.

You're going after this sheep.

It's such a big hassle, right?

Huge inconvenience to love this sheep.

And when he finds it, what does he do?

Does he beat it up and say, "Bad sheep"?

Right?

Does he, you know, kick it all the way home?

Like, "Come on, we're going home sheep."

Right?

Does he say, "Well, I found you, but you're walking."

Right?

He doesn't say that.

He picks it up, and he's rejoicing.

He's happy.

And that's the center of this parable, right?

God, i- in this case Jesus, loves to save lost sinners.

Right?

Jesus isn't upset that the sinners need saving.

A- and maybe that's a totally different picture of God

that, that you've thought of.

But when you come to God a- and identify as a lost sheep, you say, "I'm, I'm lost,

I'm helpless, I'm in danger, I need you.

I can't save myself.

The, I've made a mess of my life.

I need you to, to rescue me, to save me."

God doesn't say, "Well, okay, figure it out, and then once you, once

you start changing a bit and, and making it worth it for me to save

you, then, then I'll come get you."

Or He doesn't say, "Okay, I'll save you, but you gotta make sure

you, you do all these things."

Or He doesn't say, "I'll save you, but I'll just kinda put up with you."

And maybe that's how you feel.

Maybe even if you are Christian, you sin, and you ask for forgiveness,

maybe you feel like God's like reluctantly, you know, just like

sliding forgiveness across the table.

Like, "Oh, I, I guess I'll forgive Lewis, like, 'cause I have to," right?

"I'm, you know, steadfast love and forgiving and merciful.

I guess I'll forgive you."

Right?

When, when God forgives, He, He forgives happily.

He's not reluctantly, stingily forgiving, right?

He is rejoicing to forgive, and He loves this sheep

I want you then to think about all the ways God's loved you like this, right?

With all the, the consistency He's loved you with and the

The just willingness to love you, right?

Through all of your sin, through all of your mistakes, through all

of your dumb decisions, right?

Through all of your, "I'll do better next time," and then you don't.

Right?

Think about all the ways God has loved you through that, and he's not-- It's not

like he's like, "Well, I'm tired of it.

I'm gonna give up.

Sorry, you're done.

Three strikes, you're out."

Doesn't happen with God

And that, that's the kind of love that, that we move toward, and we

say, "I, I, I need this kind of love."

All right?

No one else is gonna love you that way.

Or you can try to find people that'll love you like that.

They won't.

All right?

You can tr- you can try to get that same sort of security from

maybe having a lot of things or, or having the life you want to have.

Not gonna happen.

All right?

You're not gonna have that, that same sense of care and comfort and peace

and happiness from, from anywhere else

Then I also want you to see what happens when God brings the sheep home, right?

The shepherd, when he's found it, he lays it on his shoulders rejoicing.

And now real joy, real love is always contagious.

Real joy, if you really are excited about something, everyone

around you is gonna know about it.

They're not gonna be surprised that you're excited about it, right?

When he comes home, verse six, he calls together his friends

and his neighbors, right?

He throws a party.

He says, "Hey, rejoice with me for I have found my sheep that was lost."

Right?

This is, this is a party, right?

This is…

He's excited, right?

He's not like, "Oh, look at this dumb sheep that I found," right?

He's not making fun of the sheep.

Y- you know, even look at this, my sheep.

That's so sweet, right?

My sheep.

God is not ashamed to associate with you

Right?

You're His sheep.

He's not like, "Yeah, uh, yeah, that's my sheep.

Yep."

No, He says, "That's my sheep I- that I love."

Right?

"Here he is.

He's mine.

I love him.

I saved him."

And everyone's happy about it, right?

Heaven is happy.

So point four, join the joyful celebration.

Could just put join the party if you want.

'Cause that's what Jesus' point to the Pharisees is, is he's saying, "You guys

are so mad that I'm loving these sinners."

And he's saying that, "I love to love sinners."

Right?

He doesn't necessarily love that they're sinners, but he loves to love them

And so what Jesus is telling the Pharisees, he's saying, "You

need, you need to join the party.

You, you're too busy making this about you.

'I'm better than them.

I deserve more attention from God.'"

He's saying, "You need to join the party.

This is the type of love that, that you need to have

And God loves to love.

It's not a chore for God to love

I don't know if you ever heard someone say that hell is gonna

be a big party with their friends

If not, you probably will eventually.

And I just want you to see here that heaven is the happiest

place you'll ever be, right?

There's more joy in heaven.

There's already joy in heaven.

There's even more, right?

Heaven is-- When you think of heaven, I want you to think of happy.

I want you to think of exciting, right?

I don't want you to think of, you know, church service with pews and

floating clouds and harps, right?

I want you to think this is the happiest place, right?

And when you think of hell, I don't want you to think of fire

and devil with his horns, right?

I want you to think of there's nothing good there.

There's no happiness there.

There's nothing to like about it.

All the good things that, that you see on this earth, things that you like, gone.

In heaven, magnified

Right?

Heaven is happiness.

Heaven is amazing

And so really what this whole parable is about is that Jesus

loves to love sinners, right?

But especially, 'cause if you notice, he's not hanging out with these guys.

So, 'cause everyone's a sinner.

They're sinners and they're sinners when you think about it, right?

So the sinners that Jesus loves

are the people who recognize that they're sinners, right?

Not the people who don't need Him

And that, that's really his point here, is that God loves repentant sinners.

God loves sinners that come to him and say, "I, I messed up.

I'm lost.

I'm helpless.

I need you."

Right?

And the ones that keep doing that over and over, right?

Not the ones that say, "I- now I'm good, God.

You got me on my feet.

I'm, I'm good.

I made it."

That God loves to love sinners.

Let's pray, and we'll talk about that more in small group.

Heavenly Father, we are so thankful for the way you love us.

We don't deserve your love.

We don't make it worth it for you to love us, but you do

simply because of who you are.

You are love, and you've decided, because you want to, that you're gonna love us.

And so we're so thankful for your faithful love, that your love, your,

your goodness is never exhausted.

You're, you're never gonna run out of, of patience for us.

You're never gonna run out of forgiveness for us.

And we're grateful that you love us not just by affirming everything about

us, but you love us enough to tell us the truth about ourselves, that

we are lost sheep, that we are messed up, that we are in danger, that we are

ignoring you, rebelling against you.

And because of that, you made a way to fix that about us.

You sent Jesus to earn a spot in heaven for us, to take away our punishment

because of our sin that we deserve on the cross, and to be raised from

the dead, to defeat death and, and secure our future with you forever.

And so I pray for anyone in this room who, who doesn't think that you love them,

that you would convince them that you do.

And I pray for all of us in this room who, um, who need that reminder.

I pray that your love for us would motivate us, it would fill us, it would

excite us, and that we would be filled with your love, and we would show that

to, to everyone around us how much we've been loved and how much we love them.

We pray this in Jesus' name.