Jesus Seeks the Lost

INTRO

As a reminder, the phrase for the Gospel of Luke is Son of Man. Jesus interacted with the people as the Son of Man. Jesus clearly showed He would do anything it took to love on people. In Luke 15, Jesus connected with every single heart.

TEACHING

Luke 15:1: All the tax collectors and sinners approached Jesus to listen to Him. Aren’t all of us sinners? Romans 3:23 says, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” All of us have missed the mark and sinned against God.

Luke 15:2: The Pharisees and scribes complained that Jesus welcomed and even ate meals with sinners. Their complaints indicated they didn’t consider themselves to be sinners. In their minds, they were righteous and perfect. They were the men of the Law who wouldn’t come to the table if there were sinners there. They wouldn’t associate with ungodly people. They were mad that Jesus indicated acceptance of the sinners because He ate with them at the table. If we’re not careful, we’ll fall into that camp pretty quickly.

Luke 15:3–4: Jesus told them a parable about sheep, “What man among you, who has 100 sheep and loses one of them, does not leave the 99 in the open field and go after the one until he finds it?” But this was not the attitude of the Pharisees and scribes. In Ezekiel 34:1–2, God spoke to Ezekiel, “Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel . . . Woe to the shepherds of Israel, who have been feeding themselves! Shouldn’t the shepherds feed their flock?” Jesus accused the Pharisees and scribes of being more concerned about the 99 and themselves than about the ones who were lost. Ezekiel 34:4–5 continues, “You have not strengthened the weak, healed the sick, bandaged the injured, brought back the strays, or sought the lost.” The religious leaders had nothing to do with going and finding the lost and everything to do with becoming spiritually fat. In Ezekiel 34:10, God said, “I am against the shepherds . . . The shepherds will no longer feed themselves, for I will rescue My flock from their mouths so that they will not be food for them.” God said He would save the flock from the religious. In Ezekiel 34:11–12, God said He would search for the flock Himself, “As a shepherd looks for his sheep on the day he is among his scattered flock, so will I look for my flock. I will rescue them from all the places where they have been scattered.” God said He would save the lost sheep from their despair. We think we have to get people to come into the temple, the tabernacle, the church. But people don’t respond like that. We need the Lord to pursue us. In Ezekiel 34:23 God said, “I will appoint over them a single shepherd, my servant David.”

Jesus was clearly doing what Ezekiel prophesied. He was pursuing the lost. But the Jewish religious leaders were complaining. They were staying fat on their own righteousness.

Luke 15:4: The shepherd left the 99 to go after the one lost sheep. In 2 Peter 3:9, we learn that God’s heart is that nobody perishes. God is not willing to let that one sheep go. If we’re not careful, the church plays that game when we say one person isn’t worth it, so we choose not to pursue them, but that conflicts with what Jesus said in John 3:16. God doesn’t want any person to perish. He doesn’t want those who don’t know Him to die and go to hell. That includes Muslims, Hindus, and Buddhists. God’s reckless love doesn’t hold back. In 1 Timothy 2:4, Paul emphasized that God “wants everyone to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.” If someone isn’t saved, then we have to go after them. Isaiah 40:11 says God “protects his flock like a shepherd; He gathers the lambs in His arms and carries them in the fold of His garment.” The reason to seek the lost is because we love them. We love them because He first loved us.

Liefeld pointed out, “It was also normal for a shepherd to count his sheep every night.”1 Why? Because every sheep mattered. In John 10:7, Jesus said, “I assure you: I am the door of the sheep.” Jesus serves as the door, and He doesn’t allow anyone to get lost. In John 10:11, Jesus continued, “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.” In other words, once you have found the lost sheep, you will do everything you can to keep them in the fold. In John 10:16, Jesus said, “But I have other sheep that are not of this fold; I must bring them also, and they will listen to My voice.”

1 Walter L. Liefeld, “Luke,” in Matthew–Luke, vol. 8 of The Expositor’s Bible Commentary, ed. Frank Gaebelein and J. D. Douglas (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1984), p. 981; quoted in Thomas L. Constable, Expository Notes of Dr. Thomas Constable: Luke, p. 346, https://planobiblechapel. org/tcon/notes/pdf/luke.pdf.

All the little sheep listen to Jesus’ voice. If one slips out, the shepherd takes it personally and goes in pursuit of it. In Genesis 31:38–39, Jacob paid for the loss of Laban’s sheep with animals from his own flock. If you were a shepherd, you had to pay up. In Exodus 22:10–12, if a man’s animal was stolen while under the care of another shepherd, the shepherd had to make restitution; he was responsible if a sheep was stolen.

Jesus feels the burden, the passion, and the love for every one of the sheep. Do we even care if a sheep gets out and goes wandering around? Scripture says we should care for every single one of them. But the Pharisees were hanging out together, getting fat on their own righteousness, and they didn’t care about seeking after the lost. In Amos 3:12, God said, “As the shepherd snatches two legs or a piece of the ear from the lion’s mouth, so the Israelites who live in Samaria will be rescued.” The shepherd snatches back his sheep no matter how hard the situation. The shepherd goes after the lost sheep constantly until they are found. But we have places we are not willing to go.

Luke 15:5–6: When the shepherd finds the lost sheep, he puts it on his shoulders and throws a massive party. He rejoices because he found his lost sheep. We should rejoice and celebrate over every person who has been found in the Lord because they have gone from death to life. The church in America is slowly dying because we’re not having parties to celebrate people coming to know the Lord. We don’t seek the lost and celebrate when they are found. We need to rejoice and gather everybody. We’re not having a party because people aren’t being found.

Wiersbe said, “There is a fourfold joy expressed when a lost sinner comes to the Savior.”²(1) The person found experiences joy; (2) the person who looked rejoices because they found the lost person; (3) others get to rejoice (who doesn’t love to hear the story of one who was found?); and (4) joy is found in heaven. Look at all of the joy in this process.

Luke 15:7: “There will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over 99 righteous people who don’t need repentance.” In this context, the Pharisees and scribes were complaining. They didn’t think they needed to repent because they didn’t even understand they were lost. They were struggling with their own identity Every time we hit the streets, we get to find those who are lost, those who are out of place, those who should be in the flocks but are wandering around, those that are out of God’s service, and those who think they don’t have any value. We’re part of bringing them back, reconciling them to God and back into the fold, and giving them purpose. God has a different identity, purpose, and plan for you. God searches for the lost. The religious get offended because the lost don’t look or smell like us. When Adam and Eve messed up, God found them. God is a father who is always going to take care of His wayward children.

CLOSING

John Wesley said, “The church has nothing to do but to save souls. Therefore, spend and be spent in this work.”³All throughout Scripture, Jesus instructs us to go after the one. Our challenge, first and foremost, is to love them. When you love them, think about the person who can be found. Think about how that could affect anyone else around you. Then there’s a party in heaven.