Luke 15:1-10 Seeking and Saving
Good morning! Turn with me in your Bibles to Luke chapter 15. This morning we are going to examine verses 1-10, and that’s on page 874 in the pew Bibles.
It’s my prayer that we will not only examine these verses this morning but that by God’s grace they would examine us.
Let’s pray.
Now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear him. 2 And the Pharisees and the scribes grumbled, saying, “This man receives sinners and eats with them.”
3 So he told them this parable: 4 “What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open country, and go after the one that is lost, until he finds it? 5 And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. 6 And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.’ 7 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.
8 “Or what woman, having ten silver coins, if she loses one coin, does not light a lamp and sweep the house and seek diligently until she finds it? 9 And when she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I had lost.’ 10 Just so, I tell you, there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”
So consider the scene here. We have the tax collectors and sinners, Jesus, and the Pharisees and scribes.
The tax collectors and sinners were coming to Jesus hungry to hear His words of life. And who are these people?
Some of you may recall that the Disciple Matthew, also known as Levi, was one such tax collector. These were Jewish people employed by the Romans to extract taxes from their countrymen and as such were considered traitors to their race.
The sinners, as they were called, were not just one class or group but was a conglomeration of various people not exactly known for their strict religiousity.
Now we know, because God’s Word tells us, that everyone is a sinner. Romans 3:23 says that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. All means all. But here in this context this was a group of people that had certainly fallen out of favor with the religious leaders, they were the outcasts.
Now we have to remember that the Pharisees preferred separation from such people. They saw no value in these sinners, they were all lost and hopeless causes in their minds. The Pharisees and scribes were completely blind to their own self-righteousness.
The Pharisees thought that if Jesus was truly Messiah than He would prefer the company of the elites, namely the Pharisees and scribes instead of the dregs of society. They believed that He lowered Himself to show those hopeless dregs undo honor and they took this as an insult.
And in response to this grumbling Jesus told three parables, two that we will look at today and one that, hopefully, we’ll examine next week.
4 “What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open country, and go after the one that is lost, until he finds it? 5 And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. 6 And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.’ 7 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.
Scripture is absolutely full of shepherd and sheep references. One of the most familiar to us is Psalm 23, The Lord is my Shepherd I shall not want…
But the one that was lost on the Pharisees that day was Isaiah 53:6, “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned – every one – to his own way…”
And also Ezekiel 34:5-6, 5 So they were scattered, because there was no shepherd, and they became food for all the wild beasts. My sheep were scattered; 6 they wandered over all the mountains and on every high hill. My sheep were scattered over all the face of the earth, with none to search or seek for them.
The simple truth is, that if you don’t think that you are lost, there is no need for anyone to come find you. That’s the thinking of the Pharisees.
The unfortunate truth is that it is thinking that is still alive and well.
As I looked at this parable this week, I couldn’t help but wonder who the ninety-nine were.
Some scholars say that the ninety-nine are the angels in heaven which Jesus left behind to come seek after the lost sheep that is humanity. I get where they’re coming from but I don’t think that’s it.
Some suggest that the ninety-nine represents the church and that the shepherd represents missionaries and evangelists. They have to leave their church family and venture off to find the lost out there in the world somewhere. I think that meaning is weak and makes us the hero of the story.
In truth the ninety-nine are those who only think they are righteous and don’t need saving, they don’t need repentance, that they were never lost to begin with and so don’t need to be found. There is clearly no joy at all for those who imagine themselves to be righteous.
This is exactly who Jesus meant when He said in Luke 5:31-32,
“Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.”
This parable gains much strength when we can all honestly admit that, at the very least at one time, we were the lost sheep.
We wandered away, we were lost, and we needed someone, the Great Shepherd, to come find us.
And see how the Shepherd treats the sheep. The shepherd doesn’t beat the sheep for wandering off. He doesn’t chase the weary sheep back to the flock. He doesn’t get somebody else to go find the sheep and bring it home. He graciously and joyfully bears the sheep on His own shoulders back home and then calls His friends and neighbors to celebrate.
God does not wait for lost sheep to find themselves, He sent His Son to find us.
The message is the same in the parable of the lost coin.
8 “Or what woman, having ten silver coins, if she loses one coin, does not light a lamp and sweep the house and seek diligently until she finds it? 9 And when she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I had lost.’ 10 Just so, I tell you, there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”
Seek diligently, that’s what the woman in the parable does until she finds the lost coin. She lights the lamp and sweeps every nook and cranny until the lost coin is found. She does what is necessary.
And what happens when she finds it? Just like the shepherd she calls together her friends and neighbors to rejoice with her.
I wonder what picture does your mind conjure when you read the words: there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents?
I always thought of angles celebrating, like the roar of the crowd when a touchdown is scored in the Superbowl. But I got to thinking about it, Jesus said that there will be joy before the angels of God, what is before the angels of God?
It’s God Himself. God the Father celebrates when one sinner comes to repentance.
When you turned away from your life of sin to follow Jesus, that’s what repentance means, God Himself rejoiced and all of heaven along with Him.
If you have yet to turn from your life of sin to a life of following Jesus, God the Father is ready to rejoice, and all of heaven with Him if you would surrender your life to Christ.
Jesus, the Great Shepherd, came to seek and to save that which was lost, He did what was necessary to find us and bring us back into the fold.
And so the message to those who count themselves among the ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance, who count on your religiousness and clean living and social standing to keep you right with God, who look down on those dirty sinners, be warned: you are just as lost as they are, you just don’t know it. Repent and turn from your self-righteousness and accept that you are lost and need the help of the seeking, saving Shepherd Jesus.
To the sheep that once were lost, that have repented of your lost-ness once found by the Great Shepherd, rejoice with the Father and all of heaven when one more is found, and share with those lost sheep around you how they may be found in Jesus as well.
And to those who are still lost, The Shepherd Jesus may be reaching out to you even right now, turn from your lost-ness and accept the help of your Savior Jesus, trust Him with your past, your present, and your future.
The Great Shepherd Jesus… committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly. He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.
Amen.
