And turn to Luke chapter 15.
Luke chapter 15.
And so,
I'm trying to preach
Christianity is Jesus Christ.
You'll be thankful,
I hope to know that Christianity
is not a set of rules
or a philosophy.
You should never confuse Christianity
with the institutional church.
Christianity is the person
of Jesus Christ.
And when we open this passage
this evening,
we find that the person of Jesus,
Jesus is in trouble again, isn't he?
One of the extraordinary things
that you find about the adult life
of Jesus
is that he's nearly always in trouble.
He's in trouble with his family.
He seems to be always in trouble
with the local clergy.
He's in trouble with his followers
at times.
But by far the most deep resentment
and hostility
towards Jesus
comes from those who are
seriously religious.
There are some exceptions
to that.
But you can almost
describe the gospel
as a sliding scale.
In a sliding scale
where the more we move
to religious observance,
the more opposition
there is to Jesus.
I think you see that.
Because Jesus kept doing things,
he kept saying things,
that just didn't sit comfortably
with the religious observance
of his day.
Of the Pharisees.
And what annoyed them
so much
was not that Jesus spoke
as though he was God
in the flesh,
nor that he did
mighty miracles
without their permission.
That was bad enough.
The problem was
he did these things
at the wrong times,
in the wrong place,
with the wrong people.
So he cast out demons
in the middle of a church service.
It's something that's very,
very un-Presbyterian,
isn't it?
He healed people
on the Sabbath.
A day of no work.
And Jesus did work
according to them.
Not just once or twice
so that it could be overlooked.
But repeatedly,
as if he was making a point
which he was.
He reached out
and touched lepers,
the untouchable.
But worst of all,
he seemed to spend
an inordinate amount of time
with the wrong people.
And that is where
we pick up the story.
Verse 2.
Chapter 15, verse 2.
And the Pharisees of the skies
grumbled,
saying,
This man received sinners
and eats for them.
Now we have to say
that we tax collectors
and sinners,
tax collectors
have never been rehabilitated.
In every culture,
tax collectors
remain the same,
disliked.
Tax collectors
and sinners
were all drawing the item.
If you work
for the Inland Revenue,
I'm sorry.
It's an unfair shot.
You can get me back
at the end of the year,
I suppose.
Now, let's go back
to the passage.
The tax collectors
and sinners,
can you see it?
They are drawing near
to him.
Verse 1.
But the Pharisees
and the scribes
murmured,
they grumbled,
saying,
This man received sinners
and eats with them.
So the problem
for the clergy
was not just that
Jesus was spending time
with these people,
he seems to like them.
And what galled them
was that Jesus
wasn't treating them,
wasn't treating
the kind of religious people
with the dignity
they felt
they obviously deserved.
He wasn't observing
the usual distinctions
that there were
that had become
so important.
He seemed
to accept
and love people
irrespective
of their background
and irrespective
of their future potential.
So they did
what all religious people
do
when confronted
with something
that they don't like.
Can you see it?
In verse 2.
What do all religious
people do
when they're confronted
by something
that they don't like?
They grumble.
They murmur.
You've just got to spend
about six months
in any church
to find that out.
But the truth is,
Jesus does not feel
comfortable
with one kind of person
or with one class
of person
or another.
The problem is
all those
well-practiced
distinctions
that make our city
go round,
they are just
irrelevant to him.
Or more accurately,
they are a hindrance
to his true purpose.
All those things
that maybe we
have carefully crafted
our own identity,
our capacity
of what we can do,
our little cliques,
our core competencies,
Jesus sees through them
and he sees the real
you and me.
The failure of the Pharisees
is not a moral failure,
it's not a religious failure,
it is a failure
to completely understand
what Jesus is there to do.
It's a failure to understand
his life and his ministry.
And that is why
this parable is so important.
Because in this
short story,
Jesus takes us
right to the heart
for the reason
that he came into the world.
for why he dies
on the cross
and why he rises again.
And I don't think
in Luke's gospel particularly
there are any words
that describe so simply
and so movingly
when you meditate on them
his own understanding
of what he's doing.
So the parable
has got two parts.
The first part
is in verses 4 and 5
which speak of
the joy of rescue.
Is that verse 5?
Verse 4.
What man of you,
which one of you,
having a hundred sheep,
if he's 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.
And when he's found it,
he lays it on his shoulders
rejoicing.
It's a very simple story,
isn't it?
It's a very simple story
of search and rescue.
But it's no ordinary rescue.
It's a sheep
that's gone missing.
And every person
in Jesus' audience
knows that when
a sheep goes missing,
that sheep
is not going to find
its own way home
by itself.
Unlike Mary's little lamb.
It will not find
its own way home
unless the shepherd
goes out.
You know that,
don't you?
That sheep,
when it leaves the flock
and goes out on its own,
if nobody goes to get it,
it will very quickly
become somebody's dinner.
For anyone
of a number
of hungry predators.
And this immediately
has a jarring note,
doesn't it,
for Jesus' listeners.
Why?
Because they knew
the Old Testament.
And they knew
that the Lord's my shepherd.
They knew that God
is the shepherd.
They knew that the Lord
is my shepherd
more times than we ever will.
But for them,
when they said
the Lord is my shepherd,
it was a great source
of pride.
It comes to complete
shock to them
to think that
Jesus thinks
that they may have
gone astray.
Let alone be lost.
And what Jesus is doing
is saying,
all that you know
of the God
of the Old Testament,
that is true of me.
I have come
from God,
from heaven,
into this world.
To rescue
men and women,
boys and girls
who are lost.
The reason behind
my miracles,
the reason behind
my teaching,
the reason I'm
speaking to you
is because God
is searching you
to bring you
back to himself.
You see,
God is not a
detached observer,
is he?
Watching from a distance.
He doesn't wait
to be asked
before he begins
caring for us.
And the proof
of that is where?
It is in the life
and the death
and the resurrection
of Jesus.
And you can tell
how seriously
God takes our lostness
by the fact
that he sends
Jesus to live
and die for us.
He must think
that we are
in serious danger.
We use this idea,
don't we,
of being lost
in a host
of different ways.
It's possible
to go to an art gallery,
isn't it,
and get lost
in all the beauty.
But that is not
what Jesus means here.
It's possible
to read a really
great book
and get lost
in the book
for an afternoon.
But that's not
what Jesus means here.
It's possible
to take a walk
in the beauty
of the countryside
and be lost
in the beauty
of creation.
But that is not
what he means
by lost here.
No, Jesus seems
to think
our lostness
demands rescue.
And we are
very familiar
with people
being rescued.
So do you remember
earlier a few weeks ago
the explorer
Henry Worsley
died
in the Antarctica.
He was exploring
the Antarctica
and he was lost.
Yesterday
four British rowers
have been rescued
after becoming stranded
in the mid-Atlantic ocean
for more than 16 hours
when their boat
capsized.
What they were doing there,
I don't know,
in the middle
of the Atlantic ocean
but they were there.
On Tuesday,
you might have seen
the video,
a mother and her toddler
drove their car
into an Amsterdam canal.
I don't know
if you've seen the video
have you seen it?
And bypassers
amazingly
dived into the canal.
I don't know
if they're cleaner
than the Brent
but they dived
into the canal
and rescued
the mother
and her toddler.
Now if the four
British rowers
had not been rescued
they would have been
lost.
If the passers-by
had not jumped
into the canal
in Amsterdam
the mother and toddler
would have been
lost.
Unless someone
rescued them
they would perish.
That's what Jesus
is talking about here.
That's the point.
This is what Jesus
has come to do.
But unless somebody
goes after the sheep
the sheep perishes.
This is what
he's come to do.
He's come to do for us
what we cannot do
for ourselves
to search for us
and to find us
and to bring us
home to God.
So when you look
at the life
and the death
of Jesus Christ
you see the love
of God in action.
I don't know
if you've ever
really thought
of what a remarkable
thing it is.
That God should
send his son
to the world
to seek for you
and for me.
That everything
Jesus went through
is because we have
cut ourselves off
from God.
And it is not
God who is lost.
Jesus is like
a shepherd
searching,
searching
because he knows
if he doesn't
find the sheep
the sheep
will perish.
I'm not sure
why you came to
church this morning
maybe just
this evening
maybe just have it.
But ultimately
spiritually speaking
the reason you came
to church this evening
is because God
is diligently
searching for you.
The fact that
you are here
means that God
is drawing you
to himself.
The difficulty
is like the
Pharisees.
We spend so much
time pretending
that actually
we're not lost.
It's so easy
today to grow
comfortable with
our lostness.
Our food is fast
and plentiful.
Our homes are
comfortable and
very expensive.
We have gadgets
to simplify and
simultaneously
complicate our
lives.
We have medicine
to prolong our
lives.
And entertainment
to dull any
vestige of
hunger for God
and longing
for him.
But I think
one of the
marks of our
lostness is
this kind of
spiritual
drifting in
our culture.
Douglas
Copeland
speaks of a
generation that
has grown up
that has no
use and no
time for God
that moves
between active
consuming and
compulsive
television watching
and apathy.
Life is lived
between the
demands of our
advertising and
our urges.
And I think
there's many
people who feel
that.
Many of your
friends and
work colleagues
and neighbours
many people who
feel this profound
sense of
disconnectedness with
God that life is
not what it was
meant to be.
They were made
for something
greater.
We've got no
responsibilities,
no commitments,
no purpose,
but no hope.
We're free to
think not too
hard about
anything in
particular and
we emulate the
morality of
whatever the
latest movie
film is.
A generation of
young people have
grown up where
death is funny
and nothing is
important.
I read this
week from one
writer who
listened to this
that says this,
we are told that
we can be anything
we want to be
but we have no
particular reason to
be anything in
particular.
Isn't that
brilliant?
We are told that
we can be anything
we want to be
but we have no
particular reason to
be anything in
particular.
And so our
friends, our
colleagues, our
neighbours, maybe
our families drift
from one peak
experience to the
next with that
defensive anthem
I'm not hurting
anyone.
And we've
developed, haven't
we, as a
culture, lots
of clever little
mechanisms to
deal with our
lostness.
So one of the
ways that people
do that is they
kind of draw
themselves a new
map.
They configure
reality with
themselves at the
centre of it.
I know my map
tells me I'm not
lost.
One of the
maps is
spirituality,
people have that,
don't they?
where I
alleviate my
lostness by
going through a
number of
spiritual exercise
which are
basically designed
to make me feel
better about
myself.
Instead of
acknowledging I
am lost.
And I need to
be rescued by
the shepherd.
I devote
myself to
different spiritual
activities.
I think it's
more difficult,
isn't it?
It seems to me
to be more
difficult in
talking to those
people who
think of
themselves as
spiritual to
come to terms
with the fact
with what Jesus
says here that
we are lost.
Another map,
let me call it
is self.
What we do
here is we
make the goal
of human life
for me.
And I
myself, I
am the
ultimate object
of allegiance.
And when that
happens,
when we put
ourselves right
at the center,
my deep longing
for God that
every human
being has,
is replaced
with a desire
for my emotional
well-being.
Sin becomes
addiction.
My longing
for God
becomes pathology.
And I become
anethetized.
My senses are
dull to the
very things
that I need
to listen to.
And I become
a little lost
sheep who's
being retooled
emotionally to
deal with my
anxiety.
And I think
that's why the
words of Jesus
tonight are so
important for us.
In Jesus'
mind, we are
all sheep.
And we have
erred and
strayed from
his ways like
lost sheep.
And we've put
a distance between
ourselves and
God and we
are lost.
And that is why
he says he is
calm.
And what does
he do when he
finds the
sheep?
I'm told
often that when
people find
lost sheep,
the sheep
refuses to
budge.
You've seen
that in me
with the
sheep on
the edge
of the
cliff.
And it
just refuses
to move.
And the
sheep clings
for whatever
it's stuck
in.
So what
does Jesus
do when
he finds
us?
Verse 5,
can you
see that?
He lays
us on
his shoulders
rejoicing.
The shepherd
has gone to
great risk
to find
this wayward
sheep.
You see,
God doesn't
look at us
and say,
here's a
self-help
manual.
Help
yourself.
He comes
to us
and he
finds us
where we
are.
And when
he finds
us,
that is
not the
end of
it.
He picks
us up
and he
puts us
on his
shoulders
and he
takes us
back home
rejoicing.
Rejoicing.
And Jesus
carries us
on his
shoulders
the entire
distance
back to
the fold.
In other
words,
the measure
of Jesus'
burden
is the
exact measure
of our
lostness.
Can you
see that?
The measure
of Jesus'
burden is
the exact
measure of
our lostness.
He carries
us back to
God the
distance we
have strayed.
His shoulders
bear the
burden of
our guilt,
all of it.
And you
will know that
if you read
this gospel to
the end,
what it cost
Jesus to
bear us
and to
bear us
and we
are told
that as
he was
nailed to
the cross
he
shouldered
our sin,
he shouldered
our guilt.
All that
we've done
to push
God away
Jesus
shouldered.
It is by
his death
we are
rescued,
it is by
his death
that we're
forgiven,
it is by
his death
that we're
brought home
to God.
And yet
the most
remarkable
thing about
these words
is that
he tells
us that
he does
it for
joy.
Do you see
that he
puts it
on his
shoulders
rejoicing.
Jesus
knew what
it would
cost him
to rescue
the lost
sheep,
but for
him it's
the opposite
of dull
and tedious,
it brings
joy and
rejoicing.
Yes he
knows,
there's going
to be
the agony
of the
cross,
but he
knows that
through that
agony of
the cross
he will
bring delight
to God
and delight
to him
by saving
us from
being lost
forever.
So let me
speak to us
who are
regulars.
I want
to ask
you,
does it
bring you
joy and
delight when
you see
someone who
is moving
from being
lost to
being found?
And are
there people
who you
know who
are wandering,
who have
maybe not
been in
church for
a few
weeks,
and actually
they are
drifting away.
They're not
following through
on their
spiritual
commitments.
And if
you are
following
Jesus,
I want
to encourage
you to
go after
them in
English
way,
and to
get them,
and to
bring them
back,
not because
of the joy
it's going
to bring
you,
though it
will
bring you
joy,
won't
it?
No,
for the joy
it will
bring them,
but for the
joy it will
bring God.
This is the
point,
there is joy
in heaven
because God
delights in
every single
one of his
people.
He doesn't
want to see
any one of
us lost.
God sent
his son to
rescue us,
and even
though it
cost him
his life,
Jesus loves
to do the
will of the
father.
That's the
joy of the
rescue.
Secondly,
more briefly,
there's the
joy of
restoration.
Can you
look with
me at
verse 6
and 7?
And when
he comes
home,
he calls
together his
friends and
his neighbours
saying to
them,
rejoice with
me,
for I
found my
sheep that
was lost.
Just so,
I tell you,
there will be
more joy in
heaven over
one sinner
who repents
than over
ninety-nine
righteous
persons who
need no
repentance,
or ninety-nine
people who
think they
don't need
repentance.
Here's another
side of being
rescued.
We've done
nothing to
force God's
hand to
search for
us,
except by
becoming
lost.
And God
sends his
son to
search for
us,
but when
he finds
us,
he doesn't
drag us
back against
our will.
To be
brought back
to God
means to
repent of
our sin.
It means
to give up
our self-made
maps.
It means
to surrender
to Jesus
Christ.
It means
despite my
abilities and
capabilities and
earnings I
have lost,
it is what
the Bible
means by
sin.
It means
to give up
our self-made
maps.
I met an
American
minister at
lunch this
week in
Covent Garden
and I was
supposed to
pick the
restaurant,
we were
going to go
to Five
Guys,
the burger
place.
And anyway,
after about
ten minutes
of walking
around
Covent Garden,
the American
man said to
me,
you don't
know where
you're going,
do you?
And I
said,
no.
And I
said,
he said,
well do you
think we
should look?
I said,
I'm sure it's
around here.
So we
walked on
another five
to ten
minutes and
then he
got Google
Earth or
whatever it
is,
Google Maps.
You've
got to give
up that at
some point.
I have to
say,
listen,
I don't
know what I
am.
I don't
know any
Covent Garden
any better
than you do
when you're
from Michigan.
We could have
walked for
hours and I
wouldn't have
found it.
You've got to
give up the
self-made
map.
And that's
what you've
got to do
if you will
come to
Christ.
Despite
your abilities
and your
capacities and
earnings,
you are
lost.
That's what
the Bible
means by
sin.
And our
problem is
that the
only place
we see
sin is
on a
kind of
deserted
man.
But in
the Bible
sin is not
so much a
moral issue
as a
spiritual
issue.
It is not
so much the
breaking of
a cold
distant
law but
the
breaking of
a friendship
and relationship
with God.
In all I've
done in
rebellion and
all I've
done in
disobedience to
God, it
results in
separation and
distance from
him.
That is what
it means to
be lost.
And to
repent doesn't
mean to eat
humble pie and
turn over a
new leaf and
find your way
home.
No, to
repent means to
change my
heart and to
change my
mind and to
recognise that
I have got
myself into
the mess I
am in by my
own self
conceit and
my own
self will.
And it is
not despair and
it's not
self loathing.
It's seeing
that what I've
done has
separated me
from God.
And I
thank God
that he has
come and
rescued me.
It is
allowing yourself
to be rescued.
It is letting
Jesus take you
upon his
shoulders and
bring you back
to God.
And the
great truth
tonight is
this.
It doesn't
matter how
far you've
wandered
tonight.
It doesn't
matter how
deeply entangled
you are in
the thing that
you are
entangled in
now.
If you want
to turn away
from it now
and allow
Jesus to
rescue you,
he will
bring you
home.
And when
you do,
and when
he brings
you there,
it will
bring you
great joy
in heaven.
We are
in desperate
need of
rescue.
Do you
think that
God will
have sent
his son
to die
on the
cross if
there isn't
an easier
way for him
to do it?
God cares
for us so
deeply that
even when
we've turned
our backs
on him
and wandered
and kept
wandering,
he sent
his son
to rescue
and to
shoulder us
home and
he invites
us all
to come
back in
a friendship
with him.
And you
may be
thinking,
what must
I do?
And it's
very, very
simple, isn't
it?
It is to
say, I am
lost.
It is to
say, I am
lost and I
need to be
rescued.
It is to
put your
hand out
to Christ
and say,
please rescue
me.
It's as
simple as
that.
And yes,
I have
pushed God
away.
And yes,
I have
wandered a
long way
off.
And I
need to be
forgiven.
And I
need to be
brought home.
And all
you need to
do is ask
God to
bring you
back because
of what
Jesus has
done.
And you
will know
the joy of
rescue and
the joy of
restoration.
Let's pray.
Amen.