Meeting Jesus - Celebrating Forgiveness
Today, we are going to look at the story Jesus told about a man who went out searching for one of his lost sheep. If you remember getting lost as a child, you probably remember being a bit scared.
Once my family was camping in a state park and at night, I got lost. I had spent all day swimming in the lake…and I stayed too long in the water…I left after it had started to get dark, and I got disoriented because nothing looked the same. The lights, campfires, camper lights through me off. I wandered from site to site trying to find my family. Eventually, one of the Park workers helped me find my way back to our site.
I knew I was in the campground.
I knew I was near the lake.
I knew I was along the road…
but I still didn’t know where I was because nothing seemed familiar. Being LOST stinks. It is a terrible feeling. Keep that feeling in mind as we look at this passage of scripture.
Luke 15:1-7 (NLT2)
1 Tax collectors and other notorious sinners often came to listen to Jesus teach. 2 This made the Pharisees and teachers of religious law complain that he was associating with such sinful people—even eating with them! 3 So Jesus told them this story: 4 “If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them gets lost, what will he do? Won’t he leave the ninety-nine others in the wilderness and go to search for the one that is lost until he finds it? 5 And when he has found it, he will joyfully carry it home on his shoulders. 6 When he arrives, he will call together his friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me because I have found my lost sheep.’ 7 In the same way, there is more joy in heaven over one lost sinner who repents and returns to God than over ninety-nine others who are righteous and haven’t strayed away!
Did you see WHY Jesus told this story to teachers of Religious Law?
Look at verse 1-3 again.
Luke 15:1-3 (NLT2)
1 Tax collectors and other notorious sinners often came to listen to Jesus teach. 2 This made the Pharisees and teachers of religious law complain that he was associating with such sinful people—even eating with them! 3 So Jesus told them this story:
People with questionable character were the ones filling the “rows of chairs” around Jesus. But rather than celebrating that these people with “faults” were listening to the words of Jesus, the Pharisees chose to complain and focus on their faults.
RELIGIOUS PEOPLE FOCUS ON FAULTS NOT FORGIVENESS
Jesus told the story to respond to the complaints the religious people were making about the type of people Jesus spent time with. The PHARISEES felt as though they had “cornered the market” on what God wanted. The Religious leaders believed that if more people were just like them, the Jewish world would be a far better place.
And – they had a slang phrase that they used to classify the types of people who lived among the Jews but did not seek to follow the religious law. They called them, “People of the Land.” It was a derogatory term similar to ones we often hear today.
They were earthly people. People with no spiritual thoughts. They were low, ungodly, people of the land. They did not trust these people with money, they would not accept his eye-witness testimony, they would not trust him with a secret, travel with them along the road, or allow them to be a foster parent and take care of orphans. The Pharisees did their very best to NEVER be associated with the PEOPLE OF THE LAND. So Jesus told them the story of a man who owned 100 sheep.
The man in this story owned 100 sheep.
He fed them daily.
He led them daily.
He protected them from thieves. From cliffs. From bad weather…
He was a SHEPHERD and that is what SHEPHERDS DO.
In our world today, we have a variety of values that people have:
We have different political views…
We have different views on mask mandates, Student Loans, Government, and immigration.
We have different types of families…
We have different worldviews…
We turn on the News and guests are yelling at one another, instead of listening to each other. We live in a world that highlights the FAULTS with one another, rather than focus on what we agree on. If you are a follower of Jesus, you understand how divisive the world can be…you understand how divisive Christianity can be…when we choose to focus on the faults of other’s rather than the forgiveness Jesus offers. There are followers of Jesus who have a different view on controversial topics. In a world that BLASTS social media videos about “Karen’s” we need followers of Jesus to CELEBRATE FORGIVENESS.
When the Apostle Paul was writing to followers of Jesus in the letter to the Colossians, he said:
Colossians 3:13 (NLT2)
13 Make allowance for each other’s faults, and forgive anyone who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others.
The easiest way to live with an attitude of grace and forgiveness to others…is to remember one simple truth:
ALL PEOPLE BELONG TO GOD, BUT WANDER
I am not saying that all people are followers of Jesus – I am saying that all people BELONG to God.
All people are His Sheep:
The stubborn ones.
The scared ones.
The lonely ones.
The white ones.
The black ones.
The brown ones.
The conservative ones.
The liberal ones.
The terrorists.
The murderers.
THE SELF-RIGHTEOUS ones.
The people you agree with and the people you avoid. We all belong to God. All 7 billion people on the planet. Every person who has ever lived, and ever will live belongs to God.
So if we ALL belong to GOD – why is the world in such a mess?
Why are children abused?
Why do some marriages end in divorce?
Why is there cancer, childhood diseases, sickness, and death?
Why do we struggle with loneliness, isolation, hurt feelings, pride and sadness?
Why do we have division in politics, churches, and families?
The answer is simple and it is found in this story.
WE all BELONG TO GOD – but – we all wander. Even your sweet old grannie that read her bible every day, went to church, served in her community, and prayed for you daily – even she – wandered from God.
I grew up hearing stories of Mother Theresa. She poured out her whole life feeding and taking care of the poor in Kolkata, India.
Guess what she is? A Sinner. A Wanderer.
I grew up watching the evangelist, Billy Graham. He preached Jesus in over 185 countries and to over two hundred million people.
Guess what he is? A sinner. A Wanderer.
Joe Donahue? Sinner.
In fact, God described our WANDERING WAYS exactly like sheep in Isaiah 53:6 when he said
6 All of us, like sheep, have strayed away. We have left God’s paths to follow our own.”
I gave my life to Jesus in 1991…but I did not stop sinning in 1991. I did not stop sinning when I accepted Jesus. I still have negative thoughts. I still have thoughts of lust. I sometimes say the right thing, the wrong way. I sometimes struggle to not say the things I want to say, and often fail to say the things the Spirit wants me to say.
A couple of years ago, Kristy and I were on an airplane flying back from Hawaii, I reclined my seat to rest.
So, I had my seat reclined the whole two inches, and I had my tablet out and I was going over the sermon that I was going to be preaching in a few hours, I was in my happy place. Nothing was wrong with my world. I was going over the message – praying – experiencing the joy of God in my heart…with my seat reclined. After about an hour, a man seated behind me grabbed the top of my seat, pulled it back further and began yelling at me.
Through his choice of vocabulary, He let me know that I was the rudest, meanest, most hateful person in the world. He was repulsed that I had reclined my seat. He had his angry eyes on. You know how Mr. Potato Head has the ANGRY eyes you can pop in? That was him…along with his frowny face. All I could think about was Mr. Potato Head. He had his angry face on, he was loud, and standing over me.
What I WANTED to say to Him and what I ACTUALLY said to him were two totally different things. I won’t tell you what I wanted to say to him…but I will tell you what I said, “I am so sorry. I wish you would have said something earlier. My wife and I will raise our seats and we will not recline back any further.”
I could tell he was not expecting me to be kind. It caught him off guard and he was still angry! He yelled another ten seconds or so, which felt like an eternity on the plane… and then he pointed at my tablet and the words on the screen and said, “And you’re reading that CHRISTIAN CRAP.”
I did not reply. We raised our seats to straight up. FOR.THE.NEXT.FOUR.HOURS. and said nothing else to him. At the end of the flight, when I stood up, in a very meek voice the old man said, “Sir. I am sorry for the way I spoke to you. I didn’t have to speak that way and I am sorry.”
I stuck out my hand, shook his, and said, “Don’t worry about it. I forgive you.”
But what I wanted to say was – “Potato Head!” Then Ninja-poke him in the eye. I have not stopped sinning since I gave my life to Jesus – but I am forgiven. My life has changed – I do GOOD works now. I tell others about Jesus now. I try to sin less – but the reality is – I still sin.
If followers of Jesus were honest, we each would admit that we WANDER from God’s path as well. Even if we consistently spend time with the Lord in the morning, we still wander away from Him during the day. There is a reason the old hymn contains the words, “Prone to wander Lord I feel it…” Because we DO!
And IF followers of Jesus drift away from God’s paths – is it any wonder that the world is a messed up as it is? We are all colliding into one another like a wreck at NASCAR. Some people get dinged, others get totaled.
Sometimes, the church stops following Jesus in searching for the lost and begins to focus on petting the sheep.
BUT GOD NEVER STOPS SEARCHING FOR THE LOST!
So…
LOWER THIRDS:
JOIN THE SEARCH PARTY TO CELEBRATE FORGIVENESS
This SHEPHERD represents GOD. God loves PEOPLE.
God loves the LOST.
God loves the BROKEN.
AND God puts his love into action and searches for PEOPLE to show his kindness to. The reason Jesus often hung out with the outcasts of society is because he was searching for his LOST sheep. It was not to make a point; it was to make a difference and change lives.
YOU and I must be intentional about joining God to search for lost people.
Since followers of Jesus still sin, that even means sometimes we get evangelism and life-change wrong. We do not SHAME people to become a follower of Jesus. We do not try to CORRECT their rude behavior. That is the attitude that turns people away from the church and from God. On that PLANE ride I could have jumped up and lectured the man behind me. But the bible tells me to speak respectfully to older men as Fathers.
It is the HOLY SPIRIT that convicts lost people of sin. When Jesus was speaking to his disciples about the job of HOLY SPIRIT after Jesus left, he said:
John 16:7-11 (NLT2)
And when he comes, he will convict the world of its sin, and of God’s righteousness, and of the coming judgment.
The HOLY SPIRIT convicts the world of sin.
Not preachers.
Not Pastors.
Not followers of Jesus.
We don’t grab picket signs and shame people because of their behavior.
It is our mission here at Beach Church to lead people to a life-changing relationship with Jesus.
Be KIND. Show Grace and JOY.
FORGIVE quickly.
ACCEPT ALL.
You can accept others without compromising what you believe. God accepted you and I and we were the worst of sinners! We must build relationships with those who have never received forgiveness for sins. We laugh with them. We cry with them. We hang out with them…so that we can LOVE them to Jesus, not to convict them of their sin.
Join the search party as we celebrate the forgiveness of sins through our relationship with Jesus.