Finding the Lost: Embracing the Parable of the Lost Sheep
Title: The Lost Sheep (The Parables of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ)
Artist: After Sir John Everett Millais (British, Southampton 1829–1896 London)
Certain things are essential to life. If you want to live, you have to breathe, you have to eat, and you have to have water. These are essential. If anyone neglected to do one of those, you would have a cause for concern. In fact, you will never stop doing them yourself. You know how important they are! There are things in the same vein when it comes to faith. You need to spend time with God, you need to be in a biblical community, and you need to EVANGELIZE. Why? Because these things bring LIFE.
Matthew 18:10-14 talks about this. Matthew 18:10-14 is a parable told by Jesus about a shepherd who leaves his flock of ninety-nine sheep to search for the one sheep that wandered off. When he finds it, he rejoices more over the one that was lost and found than over the ninety-nine that were never lost.
This parable illustrates God's relentless love and pursuit of those who have strayed from Him. In the same way, we should have an incredible passion for helping those who are lost sheep find Jesus and be saved.
Shepherds have many jobs, but one of the most important is ensuring you have all your sheep. Those sheep are under the care of that shepherd; they depend on the shepherd and are cared for by that shepherd. If you lose one of those sheep, you must get them back as quickly as possible. That sheep out in the wilderness is a sitting duck. There are dangers all over the place trying to steal their life.
Do you see how that plays in people's lives today? When people are lost, there are dangers all over the place that are trying to spiritually kill them. They desperately need someone to look for them, talk to them, and bring them to safety.
God is intensely passionate about this. He loves his people and will do anything to get them back, including dying on the cross for them. I think of the shepherd and how he had to make the decision to leave what was comfortable and save the lost sheep. That wasn't an easy decision, but it was the decision that had to be made to bring his sheep back.
God does the same for us. He left the comfort and safety of heaven to be a man, facing the dangers, troubles, and temptations himself—for the purpose of finding us so that we can find him.
Scripture is very clear that we have a role in this as well. Jesus is the one who saves lives, but we are a part of that story. I preached on it a few weeks ago, but I love how Jude 22-23 says it.
"Be merciful to those who doubt; 23 save others by snatching them from the fire; to others show mercy, mixed with fear—hating even the clothing stained by corrupted flesh."
Snatch others from the fire, danger, and sin. Why? Because you love them so much that you are willing to risk your own life to save theirs. Are you willing to do that?
Most of us say yes, but that's challenging. We have to be aware and prepared to do that.
What does it mean to be aware? Open your eyes and recognize that all the "sheep" in the world aren't safe. Who is around you, and who in your life isn't saved? Are you aware of the danger that they are facing? Are you ready to do anything to save them? Or have you reached a position of apathy in that situation?
That's my fear. That we are apathetic when a sheep goes astray. We see the sheep wander off and then do absolutely nothing to find that sheep. We have our 99; we are good. That's not right. We need to be aware of the real danger they are in and care enough to go and chase them!
Of course, that means we have to be prepared to do that; it's done through genuine compassion, empathy, and patience as we reach out to the lost. We need to be prepared to do what Jesus did. There will be fear when we do that, and we may struggle to keep going, but what will get us through will be the success stories on the other side.
Think about your story. What if no one ever spoke to you? What if no one looked for you? What if you never had the chance to hear the good news? That thought is absolutely heartbreaking, I'm sure. Don't allow that to happen to someone else. The potential of them having the same come-to-Jesus moment as you makes it all worth it.
This story is so powerful. It challenges me every single time to do better at evangelizing. Like connecting with Christ and being in community, evangelizing (sharing the good news) is vital to our walk. It can be harder to do than the other two because it pushes you out of your comfort zone. But life wasn't meant to be lived in a comfort zone.
Easter is the perfect time to go and seek some lost sheep. Please use this time of year to launch you and invite someone. You can be a part of their saving story. All you have to do is leave the comfort of the flock, depend on God, and extend his love to those needing salvation and restoration.