[00:00:01] Speaker A: Thanks for tuning in to the Met Church podcast. Here at the Met, we are all about connecting people to God and one another. If you have any questions or want more information about what's happening here at the church, then head to our
[email protected], dot. We would love to stay connected with you throughout the week through social media, so be sure to connect with us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. Now enjoy the message.
[00:00:25] Speaker B: I love the story of a company who had its computer system shut down in the middle of the workday and their it happened to be off work. So the supervisor goes and calls him at home and tries to find him so he could come up and get him back online so that they could begin to get their work done again. And so when she calls the home of this IT manager, a little boy answers the phone in a whispered tone. And she said, hello, is your father there? And the little boy whispers back and says, no, he's here, but he's busy. She said, well, is your mom at home? I need to speak with your mother if she's there. And he whispers back, yeah, mom's here too, but she's busy. He said, well, is there anybody else there? Another adult there? I need to talk to someone. He goes, well, there's a policeman here, but he's busy. And he goes, a policeman? Is there anybody else there? He goes, well, there's a fireman here, but he's busy. She said, well, what are all these people doing at your house? He said, they're all trying to find me.
Well, this series is about trying to find things and trying to find people who the Bible describes as being lost. Being lost. I read where you know the most five, the top five most common things that get lost are. You might not be surprised to know this. Your keys. You lose your keys. Isn't that awful? Your wallet. They say that's the top five. Your telephone. People lose their phone, walk out without it.
Tv remote. Every man in the room knows how horrible that is to lose the remote. We lose our minds, men, when we lose that remote. And then the fifth one is your glasses. People tend to lose their glasses. Well, now, with gps technology, you pretty much can chip everything, right? You can almost find anything. You can chip your pets. They used to talk about being able to chip your kids and find, well, now you know. You got things. You can even do that. It's scary. I am so glad my mom and dad didn't have that technology when I was a kid. They did lose me a couple of times, but I kept finding my way back home. So that was another story. But have you ever thought about this morning? Have you ever thought about the very first thing in all of human history that was lost? The very first thing that was lost was a person.
The first thing that the Bible describes.
[00:02:36] Speaker C: As being lost was a person.
[00:02:38] Speaker B: When God created everything in the garden of Eden, the Bible describes, when you read those first couple of chapters, that God would walk with Adam and Eve in the cool of the day and the beautiful part of the day, and.
[00:02:48] Speaker C: He would talk with them.
[00:02:49] Speaker B: And that happened until you get to about Genesis, chapter three, where you have the entrance of sin. When sin comes into the picture, you remember they partook of that one tree that God said, look, you can partake of anything in this garden. Just leave that one tree alone. And let me chase this rabbit far enough to tell you that the reason God placed the tree in the garden was not so that man would choose to defy him or disobey him, but he placed the tree there so that man would have a choice. You see, God gave us a choice. We are people who have given minds of our own, a will of our own. We have a decision to choose to receive him or to reject him. We can choose God's love, or we can reject his love. If I'm not free to reject the love of God, I'm really not free to choose the love of God. So he placed the tree in the garden. He said, you can have everything here, but leave that one alone. And that was the one.
[00:03:43] Speaker C: Remember, they were tempted and partook of the fruit.
[00:03:46] Speaker B: And the Bible says the minute they did that, they saw their condition and they began to hide themselves from God. So it's kind of a crazy story where after they partook of this forbidden fruit, God shows up in the garden to walk with them as he had always done. And they're hiding from him. They're hiding from him. And God calls out in the garden, he goes, Adam, where are you? Now, I've told you before, there's a lot of humor in the bible, and I think that's kind of funny, because God is sovereign. He knows everything. He sees everything. Nothing is hidden from God. So do you think for a skinny minute this morning, God didn't know where Adam was? I mean, really, do you think he really didn't know where Adam was? Do you think God was saying, come on, Adam, quit hiding from me. You're making me look bad in front of the angels. I mean, you really think that was what was going on? Now, God is sovereign, as I said, omniscience. He knows everything. He knew where Adam was. The reason he asked the question was not so that God would know where Adam was. He asked the question, get this, so that Adam would know where Adam was. He wanted Adam to understand. For the first time, he's hiding from God. For the first time, he fears God. For the first time, he doesn't want to be in the presence of Goddesse. And what had changed in Adam and Eve's existence? The matter of sin. Sin separated them. Sin drove a distance between them and God. Sin, for the first time made them feel unworthy and unavailable to God. And so you have this scenario in the garden of Eden with the entrance of sin, where God loses one of his kids, and Adam and Eve are hiding from the presence.
And really, when you think about it, the purpose of Jesus coming into the world. We received communion a moment ago. The purpose of the cross, the death and the burial and the resurrection of Jesus is all given and explained in one verse in Luke, 1910, where the Bible says, the son of God came. Now get the wording of this. To seek and to save those who are lost.
The reason Jesus came into the world was to find those who are lost, those lost children, those people who are the Imago Dei, made in the image and in the likeness of God. And because of sin, born in sin, they're separated from God. So Jesus came into the world to find them, to bring them back into a relationship with his heavenly father. That's why you have the story of the cross. And so the story we're going to be looking at over the next three weekends, as we're in this new series, is we're going to be looking at how Jesus conveys and communicates the significance of going after people who are away from him. And the reason that's important, because statistics say in the average church, when a person makes a commitment and trusts Jesus as savior, that within the first two years after they've made that significant commitment to Jesus, they have virtually no friendships with people who do not know Jesus, people who don't think like they think, people who do not share the values that they share. And what happens, unfortunately, with Christ's followers is that we tend to insulate ourselves and isolate ourselves from people who do not know Jesus. And that's a real tragedy. When the Bible says in John that we are to come out from among them and be separate, that we're not to touch unclean things, it doesn't mean, and indicated in that, that we are to be isolated and insulated from people it means that we are to be unique and we're to be different, not that we are superior or that we pontificate or look down our noses on other people. It's just that we realize we now belong to God. Our allegiance is to him. Our values are based upon his word. And so we're to live a different life, but we are not to separate ourselves from the people that Jesus loves. When the Bible says, separate yourselves from the world, you have to understand what the Bible implies when it says the word world. What does the word world mean? There's at least two or three meanings when the Bible uses the word world, as it's translated into our English. One of the usages of the word world is cosmos, the created universe. So is he saying be separate from the world, that we are somehow to be separate from his creation? I don't think that's what it means. I mean, how would you do that anyway? So it's not to be separate from that.
Another usage of the word world is people, the world of people. For God so loved the world, John 316, that he gave his only begotten son. Jesus didn't die for creation. He didn't die for a system. He died for people. So does that what is implied when he says, as a Christian, I'm to separate from the world? Am I to separate from creation? Am I to separate then from other people? No, I think it's the word world in that usage means the third definition of the word world is a system. A system, a way of thinking. We call it in our vernacular today, secularism. It's a type of thinking that does not include God. Secularism says, I can get by without God. That's the way I thought before I knew Jesus. So what he's implying and what he's saying in that I am to separate myself from that way of thinking. I'm to be transformed, romans twelve two, by the renewing of my mind. I need a new mindset so that I don't think as a secular person would think. So there's the difference. The difference is not in separating from people, certainly not in separating from creation, but it's separating myself from a system of thinking that does not include God. So I think that's important as I go into the series, because I'm talking in the series about the significance of you and I having redemptive relationships with people who don't know Jesus. I mean, let me ask you this morning, those of you who have a relationship with Christ, do you have people in your orbit, people in your circle who do not know Jesus, who maybe not share your values, who understand that you are a Christian and you go to church and you're here this morning, or you're watching online, but they don't share the same value. They don't see the significance or the importance of that. Do you have people in your orbit like that? I can tell you I do. I have friends who will tell me that they're atheists, that they don't believe in God. They respect me and what I do, and I respect them and what they do. But we're on two totally different spheres of thinking because of where they are and where I am. But I'm a friend of them, and I maintain a relationship with them, and I do so because I hope one day they'll come to that epiphany or that place that the holy spirit will draw them to a point where they'll finally be able to say, I need to look into what you say you believe. So I have to associate myself with them and align myself with them so I get that opportunity. It's called relational evangelism. It's simply having a relationship with someone in the hopes that eventually you'll have the opportunity to share Jesus with them. And everybody in the room needs those kinds of relationships. That's why we're having a special weekend and a couple of weekends. We're inviting you to find a friend to bring them with you, to kind of let them kick the tires, to experience a service that maybe they would not experience otherwise. And we can use the idea of, hey, you're my friend. I want you to go. We're encouraging people to bring a friend on that day, and we're really hoping. Cause my message is gonna be a very basic message of how you can know Jesus. Based on the third part of this prodigal, that we're gonna look at a parable, rather. And that is the story of the prodigal, the man who walked away and came back. So that's really what it's about. That's the motive behind this methodology that we're talking about in the series, is getting people aware of the fact that in our world, there are people that we'll come in contact with who are lost. I was sharing with a friend of mine the other day, and he was talking about some of the people that he knows who are in different types of businesses and different walks of life. And I just commented to him, I said, you know, God has strategically placed you in contact with people that I'll never talk to. He is strategically in your business. He's placed you in contact with people who probably will never attend anybody's church.
And not to put pressure on you because you are well aware of this, you may be the only Jesus they ever see.
Your life may be the only bible they ever read. The closest to God they ever may get is what they see in and through you and what they hear communicated through you. And it wasn't to add to the pressure, but it was simply to underscore the fact that God can use us in various places and various walks of life for his purposes if we become sensitive to how his spirit wants to use us.
So with that backdrop, let me look at our text this morning there in Luke, chapter 15. Very familiar. Luke, chapter 15. This is a parable. In fact, there are three parables in the story.
[00:12:47] Speaker C: We'll look at the first one.
[00:12:48] Speaker B: What is a parable?
A parable is a earthly story that Jesus told that has a heavenly meaning, a heavenly significance. When you think about parable, think about the word parallel. When I talk about parallel, you think about two things, two lines that are side by side, right? A railroad track is a parallel. Those rails are parallel to one another. And so a parable is a earthly story with a heavenly meaning. A parable. So here you have an earthly story, but Jesus is using it to illustrate something far deeper and far greater than just simply this story. So he says here in verse one of Luke 15 that these tax collectors and these sinners were coming near to listen to him. Now, I'll underscore this in a moment, but I think it's interesting. Who was attracted to Jesus? The tax collectors and the sinners. Let me stop and talk about this for just a second. Tax collectors in his day were not nearly as beloved and I as they are in our day.
I say that because I joked one time about a tax collector and even told a joke about the IR's. This is true, honest to God. Not that I wouldn't tell you something that's not true.
Service was over. A lady walks up to me and flips a badge. She was an IR's agent. She said, pastor, when's the last time you had an audit?
And I said, we're just teasing, right, about both of these things, right? She goes, yeah, I'm just messing with you. So that's why I say they're not nearly as beloved as they are now back in his day. Because in Jesus day, when Rome wanted to excise taxes from jewish people, they would hire jewish people to do that because they knew the jewish people, knew the culture. They knew how jewish people thought. So Rome would hire jewish people to collect taxes from other jewish people, and these tax collectors became corrupt. It was almost like a mafia type situation where they would then go to someone who had a big tax bill, and they would say, look, I know you can't pay this whole bill, but if you pay me something under the table, I'll take a piece of that, I'll pay the government, and this all goes away. Well, Rome knew they were doing that. The jewish people certainly knew they were doing that. But Rome let them do that because they thought, well, a little of something is better than all of nothing. We can get a portion of the tax bill back. Even though this guy's a crook, he's keeping something under the table. My point is, Rome didn't respect these tax collectors, and neither did the jewish people. So when I talk about a tax collector and it mentions that, you have to have that backdrop to understand how significant that is, that's like saying the sopranos. That's like saying, you know, these guys were rough, these guys were tough, these guys were brutal, these guys were crooked. And so when these people are attracted to the message of Jesus, that jumps out at you. And then when he says sinners, well, that just incorporates anyone and everyone who's living a life separate and apart from God. But what I don't want you to miss is they were attracted to Jesus.
Why do you think that was true? Because. Do you think for a moment that they were attracted to him because he was sharing something with them that they needed to hear the. Yeah, probably so do you think they were attracted to him because they knew that in coming to him, they would not be turned away or they would not be looked down upon, and they would not be judged in coming to him? I think so. So these people, and don't miss that they were attracted to Jesus. And so notice verse two were the pharisees and the scribes. That's the religious group. That's the group that would have nothing to do with these other people. And notice the difference. One group was there to hear what he had to say. The other group was there to complain. The Bible says they were grumbling and saying, notice it. Now this fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them. He's associating with them. And so he, the Bible said he told them that this parable, in response to this criticism, Jesus said, which one of you, having a hundred sheep loses one of them, doesn't leave the 99 in the wilderness? And go after the one that is lost until he finds it. And when he finds it, he lays it on his shoulders and rejoices. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, rejoice with me. I have found my sheep that was lost. And I love verse seven. Just so I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over 99 righteous.
[00:17:24] Speaker C: People who need no repentance.
[00:17:27] Speaker B: Can I chase one other little rabbit about verse seven?
[00:17:29] Speaker C: Because this really is special.
[00:17:31] Speaker B: Do you realize there are things that happen on the earth that people in heaven are aware of?
Now, I don't think God would allow anything into heaven, any information that happens on the earth into heaven, that would make heaven less heaven for our loved ones who are there. I do think there are experiences that happen on this earth that God would allow our loved ones in heaven to know if it would make heaven more heaven for our loved ones who are there. You follow?
And the Bible here says that when one sinner repents that there's rejoicing in the presence of the angels. Now, notice he didn't say the angels are rejoicing, though I'm sure they're happy about it. He just says there's rejoicing in the, who's in the presence of the angels?
[00:18:15] Speaker C: Our loved ones.
[00:18:16] Speaker B: And what greater reason would they have to rejoice than when they hear of someone they know here on the earth who one day will be in heaven with them? And what a thing to celebrate in heaven.
[00:18:25] Speaker C: Isn't that an amazing thought? I just want to throw, it had.
[00:18:28] Speaker B: Nothing to do with everything else I was going to say, but I just want to say that.
And so here Jesus is making this parable, and he's giving this parable, and really the underlining principle of the parable. Can I give it to you very simply? Lost people matter to God.
Lost people matter to God. Now, why does he use the word lost? Did you know the word lost is the word Jesus used more often than any other word to describe people who.
[00:18:52] Speaker C: Are away from him? They're lost.
They're lost.
[00:18:55] Speaker B: They're looking for something. They don't know what it is.
Lost in the sense of Solomon. In ecclesiastes, when Solomon was trying to find fulfillment and meaning in life. And so we looked into education, and Solomon, man ended up with more degrees than the thermometer, and he had all this education.
And Solomon, at the end of his education, he said, education without Jesus is just splendid ignorance. He said, there's nothing here I'm still empty. I'm void.
It didn't do it for me. Highly educated, but still unfulfilled.
The Bible says he got into libation.
He was abusing substances, drinking more and more and doing other substances of his day, and thinking that somehow getting into that world would somehow fill the void and the vacancy of his life. And he did. He chased all that down. And at the end of the day, he said, it's vanity, it's empty. It doesn't do it for me.
The Bible says he got into luxury and he made the acquisition of things, the sole purpose of his life. And he was the most wealth. He was the wealthiest man in the then known world. Incredibly wealthy. In fact, the queen of Sheba made a visit one day to see, a pilgrimage to see Solomon. She had heard so much about him. And the queen of Sheba arrived and she checked out Solomon and everything he owned. And you know what she said after the experience? She said, the half has not been told.
They have not exaggerated this guy's wealth at all. He was incredibly wealthy, an incredibly wealthy man.
And at the acquisition, acquisition of all of those things, Solomon said, that still didn't do it for me. I still felt empty.
And then he tried lust.
He just said, well, I'll just go after anything my heart desires. I'll sleep with every woman that'll sleep with me. And the Bible says he married. Are you ready for this? 700 women. The man married 700 mother in laws. Now can you.
Now if they were like mine, that was a wonderful thing.
She's in heaven today.
But I'm just saying, 700 women. And not only that, he had 300 concubines. That means girls on the side.
The guy had 1000 women at his disposal. And at the end of all of that, if you could imagine, he said.
[00:21:22] Speaker C: It didn't do it for me.
[00:21:24] Speaker B: Now, the point of the story of ecclesiastes was one man's journey for fulfillment, one man's journey for purpose. And he doesn't find it until you reach chapter twelve, when the Bible says, then I turn to the Lord.
And whenever he realized that all the things he was searching for, he was a lost man looking for something. And until he connected with the savior and found Jesus, and Jesus found him, all of those other things finally, finally fell into place, and he found fulfillment and he found contentment. But the point is that men and women without Jesus, the Bible says they're lost. They're just looking for something because they need someone. And his name is Jesus.
So when you begin to break down this parable. There's two or three things I wanted to share with you before we go home. The first is the most obvious, because the parable opens with what I'm calling the criticism of the skeptics. The criticism of the skeptics. These parables in John 15 came as an answer to the religious critics of Jesus day.
I said a moment ago, these people were looking at Jesus and said, look at this one. This fellow. They called him this fellow. They were dismissing him. Look at this fellow. They didn't acknowledge him as a teacher, as a son of God. They were saying, look at this guy. Look at this guy. Look at him. He's eating and he's drinking. He's hanging out with these sinners. And you can almost though you don't get inflection when you read the Bible, but you almost sense the disgust and the disdain they had that he would associate with people who did not claim to know God. And didn't seem to have an interest in knowing God.
And here the Bible says concerning them, that the scribes and the Pharisees, they murmured against him.
And yet, as I said a moment ago, man, you read Mark, chapter two.
There was that tax collector. Remember them? A tax collector named Levi. Whenever he receives Jesus as his savior, he said, I gotta get out of this world. I can't in good conscience any longer do what I did and be deceitful in business and still follow after Jesus.
I can no longer be a good example of a bad example. And so he was walking away from his old life. And let me say, that's how people change. And that's how people move into the place where they should be. Because Christianity is not behavior modification. God does not change someone so that he can then love them. Watch this. He loves them first so that he might change them.
[00:23:59] Speaker C: You see the difference?
[00:24:02] Speaker B: Romans five eight says that Jesus commended himself to us. His love was extended to us. And here's the wording in that while we were yet sinful, Christ died for us. So he didn't say to Levi, hey, you, tax collector, you need to give up that deceitful. You need to give up that illegal practice. You need to stop doing that. And then I'll receive you. He said, levi, you come as you are as messed up as you are. And Levi just came to Jesus and said, I am messed up. I'm lost. And the minute he came to Jesus, you know what happened? It changed his heart. And he said, I got to get out of that business.
I can't be a part of a company that's taking advantage of people. I can't be a part of something. I represent Jesus now. And so that's the backdrop. And now they're having a going away party for Levi in Mark, chapter two. And can you imagine the kind of party they must have thrown?
I mean, here's one of their guys, and he's getting out of. And they're throwing him a party because he was an earner, he was making a lot of money. And so they want to honor him. And sitting at the head table, with all of this room full of deceitful, dishonest people, sitting at the head table is Jesus.
Now, I'm not suggesting that he got drunk to reach drunk people. I'm not saying he got high to reach people that get high. I'm not saying that. I'm just saying he was separate and distinct. Even though he sat among them, he was salt and light with them. And there's a way you can do both.
And he sat at the table demonstrating his love for these people and his desire to reach these people. And outside of the venue, this is where I'm going with this. Outside of the venue are the scribes and Pharisees, the religious people.
And when you read the story, the Bible says they said among themselves, look at that man sitting in there eating and drinking with those sinners. They were disgusted.
And Jesus perceived their heart. Now, how did he hear them? Through the windows and through the walls? Because you got.
Jesus perceived what they were saying. And when you read it, he goes out and he confronts them. And here's what he said. I did not come into this world to call the righteous to repentance, but sinners. Now, let me tell you what he wasn't saying when he said that. He wasn't saying the scribes and the Pharisees are righteous. What he was saying, and don't miss this, is they were self righteous.
[00:26:25] Speaker C: You see the difference?
[00:26:27] Speaker B: I didn't come to call self righteous people to repentance. I came to call sinners to repentance. You can't help someone who doesn't think they need help.
And the tough thing about religious people is most of them don't think they need help.
They do feel superior to other people. And they tend to pontificate and look down their nose at other people. And they are so consumed with God's law that they've abandoned God's love.
And I'm just suggesting, in Matthew 22, the Bible says, if you are genuinely wanting to fulfill the law of Christ, love God with all your heart. Soul and mind and love your neighbor as yourself.
[00:27:04] Speaker C: And in doing this, you fulfill the law of Christ.
[00:27:07] Speaker B: It should be the deeper into God's word you go, the more like him you become. And the more like him you become, you'll love what he loves, and you'll love who he loves.
And by the way, you'll know where to draw the line.
[00:27:19] Speaker C: You know why?
[00:27:20] Speaker B: Because perfect love produces perfect hate.
Let me explain that. When you love what you love, you'll hate what you should hate. And when I use the word hate, I mean you'll love less, meaning that if you're into healthiness, fitness, you'll hate anything that hurts that goal. If you love your family, for example, you'll hate anything that hurts your family. So when I say perfect love produces perfect hate, I'm saying, how you know where to draw lines as a Christian, how you know how to navigate gray areas of your life as a Christ follower, to be salt and light is you get so close to Jesus, all of a sudden those things become crystal clear.
[00:27:57] Speaker C: Crystal clear.
[00:27:59] Speaker B: And here these critics were criticizing Jesus. So he goes out and says, I can't help you. Self righteous people that don't think you need me. But the guys in that room know they need me. They are lost.
I don't have to convince them they're lost. They know they're lost. And he said, that's the group. I came. I came to help the messed up, and I came to help the confused. I came to help. That's my people.
And so jesus drew this distinction, and he did so because of the critics that he faced. So it opens with the critics, the skeptics. The second part of the parable that I wanted you to see was not only that, but also, secondly, the condition of the sheep.
He describes them again as being lost, these tax collectors and these sinners. Now, when the Bible speaks of lost sheep, there are two types of sheep that I want to point out.
One type of sheep that gets lost are what I would call Wayward sheep. Those are sheep that belong to the shepherd, but they go astray.
Those are people who know Jesus, but they walk away.
Our church, we have hundreds of people like that who are on our church rolls who were at one time here and faithful. And something has happened in their life that was devastating, disappointing. They got disillusioned through the circumstance, and they just kind of disconnected and walked away.
They still belong to Jesus. They're still a part of our church.
[00:29:24] Speaker C: Family, but they're just disconnected. They're wayward.
[00:29:29] Speaker B: And did you know Jesus will go after those sheep.
He goes after the sheep that already belonged to him that have walked away. Now he will find them. In fact, the Bible even says, not if he finds them. In verse five, it says, when he finds them, he's coming. He'll find you. It may take him time.
I've had people who told me I've been out of church for years, Bill, and this happened or that happened, the other thing happened. And I realized I need to get reconnected with my, with the lord. I need to get plugged back in. And they come back, and I've told you before, and I'll say it again this morning, I don't criticize people when they get hurt and they walk away.
I understand those people.
And if I'd walked through what they walked through, I might have responded the same way.
If they've walked through what I've walked through, they might have responded differently than I've responded once. You know their story, you're not so quick to judge these people who have gone through something disillusioned, and they walked away.
Why did God let this happen to me? Why this? Why now? I mean, can you trust anybody?
[00:30:29] Speaker C: Can you trust any church?
[00:30:30] Speaker B: I put a lot of faith in that church. I gave a lot of money to that church. I believed in that pastor. I believed in that church leadership. And this is what happens to me. Disillusioned, they walked their wayward sheep. I get it. I get it.
They put the wrong people on the pedestal. They took their eyes off of Christ, and they put their eyes on his representatives. And the Bible says, the arm of.
[00:30:52] Speaker C: Flesh will fail you.
Don't trust anybody but Jesus. Don't trust anything but his word. The arm of flesh will fail you.
[00:31:02] Speaker B: Because the best any of us will.
[00:31:04] Speaker C: Ever be, please hear this. Are sinners saved by the grace of God?
[00:31:08] Speaker B: The only perfect thing about this church.
[00:31:09] Speaker C: Is we preach from a perfect Bible and we serve a perfect savior.
[00:31:13] Speaker B: Now, that doesn't mean we try to do things right. We do. That doesn't mean we don't live according to integrity. We do. But I'm just saying, man, sometimes people in churches will get their eyes on the wrong thing. They get disillusioned. And I've heard of them, had it in our area, walk away. I get it. They're wayward sheep. They're disconnected. They'll come back eventually, but right now, they're not there yet.
[00:31:34] Speaker C: So what do you do? You pray for them. You love them. And here's what you know.
[00:31:37] Speaker B: You know they belong to Jesus.
[00:31:39] Speaker C: And he's going for them. He's going for them.
[00:31:41] Speaker B: I don't mean in an angry, I'm gonna get you back in here kind of the thing, but I mean in Love.
[00:31:47] Speaker C: He's going for them.
[00:31:48] Speaker B: The Bible describes him as when he finds them, he puts them on his shoulders. You know, when he puts them on his shoulders, his shoulders. The shoulders of the shepherd were a Place of power. The shoulders power.
In other words, he goes for them, saying to them, you matter to me. You're important to me. I love you. I let you walk away. I just didn't let you stay away. And he comes for them, and he.
[00:32:08] Speaker C: Puts them in a Place of his presence, in a Place of his power, and he brings them back into the fold, wayward Sheep.
And then you have Wicked Sheep.
[00:32:17] Speaker B: You have Sheep that never have belonged to him.
[00:32:20] Speaker C: And he's going after those sheep as.
[00:32:22] Speaker B: Well, that sheep that he loves, because God doesn't, as I've said, just love all of us. He loves each one of us. For God so loved the world. That just doesn't mean the world of those that have received him as savior of the world. As we say in christian circles of the elect, that means the world of everyone.
I believe God loves all the world.
[00:32:41] Speaker C: First.
[00:32:41] Speaker B: Peter, three nine. God is not willing that any should perish. It didn't say many. He said any, but that all should come to repentance. There's people in theological circles that believe that God is just predetermined. Some people will go to heaven, and he's predetermined. Other people are just born without a chance when they're going to hell.
Like God looks down from heaven and says, any many mighty mo, you'll go to heaven, to hell you'll go.
I believe in election. I don't believe in selection election. You have to present yourself as a candidate and be willing to run. Selection means you have no choice in the matter. So, my very hyper calvinist friends, I have a bone to pick, and I'll tell you one day in heaven, I was right and you were wrong.
Doesn't have anything to do. There's nothing salvific in what they believe. I respect their position. Just don't have to with all that, you know, you find that tooth, you go build that dinosaur. So you got to be careful with.
[00:33:40] Speaker C: That sort of thing.
[00:33:41] Speaker B: So I'm just suggesting, as the heart of this pastor is to understand there are some people that are connected to Jesus who walk away. There's some people who have never been connected to Jesus that he goes after.
[00:33:51] Speaker C: And that's the condition of the sheep.
[00:33:56] Speaker B: And then the third point I wanted to give you before we go home.
[00:33:58] Speaker C: This morning is the compassion of the shepherd.
[00:34:02] Speaker B: Wow.
That is one of the themes. The biggest takeaway from this story is.
[00:34:06] Speaker C: The compassion of the shepherd is how.
[00:34:09] Speaker B: He goes out looking for those sheep.
What's beautiful about our shepherd man, when you look at Jesus and you look at the example that he set, particularly in Matthew nine, how that he looks.
[00:34:21] Speaker C: At people, he accepts people as they are. Remember the woman at the well in.
[00:34:24] Speaker B: John four when Jesus sat with her? And back in that day, it was.
[00:34:28] Speaker C: Culturally unacceptable for a man to sit at the same, in the same vicinity.
[00:34:34] Speaker B: With a woman without being escorted, without.
[00:34:36] Speaker C: Having other people around.
[00:34:37] Speaker B: It was considered scandalous. And a woman that would speak to.
[00:34:39] Speaker C: A man was considered to be scandalous.
[00:34:41] Speaker B: And that Jesus broke all those old cultural mores.
[00:34:44] Speaker C: He sat with this woman, and he shared with her the beautiful love of God. He accepted people.
[00:34:52] Speaker B: Not only accepted them, as I underscored a moment ago, he associated with these people. Not only did he associate it with them, to the point that in Matthew 1119, the Bible said he was a.
[00:35:02] Speaker C: Friend of sinners, and then he actively pursued them.
[00:35:07] Speaker B: There were 132 contacts, I'm told, in the New Testament where Jesus interacted with people 132 times.
[00:35:14] Speaker C: The Bible records many others that are in the Bible. But 132 the Bible records. Get this. Six of them were in the temple.
[00:35:21] Speaker B: Four of them were in the synagogue.
[00:35:23] Speaker C: And 122 of those contacts were out in the public places where people worked and lived.
Meaning Jesus went out where people are, and he interacted with them right where they are. He loved them, he was interested in them, he cared about them, he went after them.
[00:35:40] Speaker B: And I say that because this series is designed for us as a church.
[00:35:44] Speaker C: To realize that we need to be sensitive to people that God may strategically.
[00:35:48] Speaker B: Have placed in our path, who need.
[00:35:50] Speaker C: Him, who need Jesus.
[00:35:52] Speaker B: And I don't mean get in their face and yell, turn or burn.
[00:35:57] Speaker C: But.
[00:35:57] Speaker B: I mean find a creative, compassionate way.
[00:36:00] Speaker C: When the time comes to be able to say, you know what?
Darkest moments of my life, and I know he can help you to be.
[00:36:09] Speaker B: Able to say to them, this is what God has done for me.
[00:36:11] Speaker C: I'm sure he can do that for you.
[00:36:13] Speaker B: You know what being a witness means when he said in acts one eight, you're to be my witnesses? What does a witness do?
[00:36:19] Speaker C: A witness communicates an experience.
If you're called to court and you're.
[00:36:23] Speaker B: Asked to testify and be a witness, all they want to know is what do you know? What did you hear?
[00:36:27] Speaker C: What did you see?
[00:36:29] Speaker B: And all you've got to do to.
[00:36:30] Speaker C: Someone in your circle is say, hey, man. Hey, let me tell you something. I've been down this road, too, and this is what worked for me. I'm not preaching at you, but I'm just telling you, I turned this over to God, and he changed my life. And at some point, maybe you should consider that. You should think about that. And that's what happens when you're salt and light. God strategically places you in the lives of these people to be able to be a conduit through which his holy spirit can work. And I've told you before, people don't. You can't reach them until they get reachable.
[00:37:04] Speaker B: And when you are there and available.
[00:37:05] Speaker C: To them, when they become reachable, the chances of reaching them are so greatly enhanced, particularly if they know you love.
[00:37:12] Speaker B: Them and you care about them. What is that old expression?
[00:37:15] Speaker C: People don't care how much you know? Do they know how much you care?
Let me give you this, and we'll go home.
[00:37:21] Speaker B: New Mexico. Some of the sheep herders were losing.
[00:37:25] Speaker C: Lambs when the first snows would fall.
[00:37:27] Speaker B: Because the ewes would take those lambs and they would go way out and.
[00:37:30] Speaker C: Graze in the fields.
[00:37:32] Speaker B: And when the snow would start to fall, those early snows, it was dropping.
[00:37:36] Speaker C: The temperatures were dropping.
[00:37:37] Speaker B: But because the ewes had a healthy coat of wool, the lambs didn't, you know, they were just babies, and they were not heavily covered, and so they would get cold, and they would lay down, and oftentimes they would freeze to death. And the ewes weren't even aware that.
[00:37:53] Speaker C: Their babies were freezing to death because they were comfortable.
[00:37:56] Speaker B: And so the sheepherders got together, said.
[00:37:58] Speaker C: Man, how do we address this?
[00:37:59] Speaker B: What do we do?
How do we keep from losing so many of these little baby lambs out in the field? Because their mamas aren't aware that they're freezing to death. And they came up with this ingenious idea. They shaved the top of the ewe's heads, and they shaved the top of the ewe's head so that when it started snowing and started getting cold, they'd realize, it's cold. We're going to the house.
And mamas would take the babies back to the fold because they felt the.
[00:38:26] Speaker C: Cold, and they knew the babies would be in trouble. What's the point?
[00:38:30] Speaker B: When I read that, I thought, man.
[00:38:32] Speaker C: A church can become a very insulated community.
We can be conclaves of the completely convinced.
And we can huddle ourselves in here and forget that all around us are people who desperately need Jesus. And if we're not sensitive to that.
[00:38:48] Speaker B: And we're not aware of that, we'll.
[00:38:50] Speaker C: Never be salt and light to them. And this series is all about orienting our hearts toward reaching people that our savior loves. Some of the people in your circle may be wayward.
[00:39:02] Speaker B: They may have been hurt.
[00:39:03] Speaker C: I tell people all the time, if you didn't get hurt in church, you just didn't go long enough.
[00:39:07] Speaker B: Somebody will run you down to the glory of God.
[00:39:10] Speaker C: I got stories. I share my story with you. You wouldn't believe I'm doing what I'm doing now. Talk about somebody disillusioned, disappointed my eyes on pastors and people that I shouldn't have been.
[00:39:21] Speaker B: I did not critical of other people. I get it. I did it, and I was just as disillusioned.
[00:39:28] Speaker C: I'll have to share that with you someday. I've written it. I don't have the courage to publish it yet.
So it's there.
[00:39:35] Speaker B: Wavered.
[00:39:37] Speaker C: And then those that never knew Jesus.
And I hope you're building redemptive relationships with them, and I hope you're making yourself accessible and available to them. So when that moment comes, and we pray it comes, you'll be able to say, this is what Jesus did for me. I know we can do this for you. Let's pray.
Father, thank you for your love for us.
Thank you for the challenge before us to be salt and light in our world, to come in contact with the people you went to the cross and died for. We've received communion to remind us of the price that you paid.
You loved the world and gave yourself for the world. And so, Father, I pray that we'll walk out of this room sensitive to those that we know in our circle.
[00:40:25] Speaker B: Who may be wavered.
[00:40:26] Speaker C: They may be connected, and they've walked away, or they may never have known you. Completely disconnected, and they've never been close to you, ever. Help us to realize the significance of loving them and praying for them and being available to them and even encouraging them to come and sit with us in a service and pray that your holy spirit will speak to their heart.
Father, I just pray you'll put that burden and you'll put that great desire in our heart to help people who do not yet know you.
And finally, Father, I pray for my friends who may never have trusted you, that this might be the moment, Lord, when they humble their heart and they pray a simple prayer like this. And just say, Lord Jesus, with everything I know about me, I now trust all that I know about you. Come into my heart. Forgive my sin. And Father, I ask this in Jesus name and for his sake.
[00:41:20] Speaker B: Amen.
[00:41:22] Speaker A: Thank you so much for tuning in today. If you have any questions or prayer requests, please contact us by visiting metchurch.com so that we can follow up with you this week. We look forward to seeing you next week.
