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| Sermon Date: |
September 16, 2007
(Redeemer, Sanford) |
| Sermon Text: |
Luke 15:1-10 |
| Church Calendar: |
16th Sunday after Pentecost |
| Delivered By: |
Rev. Brian Roberts |
"The Good Shepherd"
At a Lutheran Church in Clinton, Iowa, Vacation Bible School
didn’t quite go like it was supposed to this year. The final
day of VBS included a little play that told the story of Jesus
as “The Good Shepherd.” Now, the star of the play was, of course,
Jesus, but the kids were most excited about the two real sheep
that were going to be used in the skit. These special guest stars
were being kept in a pen outside the church.
Just before the play was to start, something went wrong. The sheep…
well…they were lost. Somehow, they got scared, hopped over the
fence, and ran away. The VBS director, along with a couple of
older kids, ran through town, chasing one of the sheep. One lady
who was watering her yard, later reported that she thought she
was seeing things, when she watched a sheep run by her house,
chased by two children.
That sheep was finally caught. But the other one was still
on the lam. The church’s pastor was out looking for that
one. But he wasn’t having much success. You see, people
kept asking him what he was doing. And then, when he said
that he was looking for a lost sheep, he would have to stop
and explain that he wasn’t actually looking for sinners. He
was really looking for a lost sheep. Well, eventually the
other sheep was found and the show went on, although a
little later than planned.
In one the Gospel stories today, Jesus is talking about lost
sheep. In another of the stories He is talking about a lost
coin. But what He is really talking about is – you and me.
We are hearing from God, Himself, how valuable we are to
Him. We have the kind of God, Who goes looking for us.
Now, a lot of people don’t believe that God is like that. A
lot of people believe that we have to go looking for God. If
we want to experience God’s power, if we hope to discover God’s
love, then WE need to be doing whatever we can to find God in
our lives. That’s what the Pharisees in the Gospel story believed.
They did not believe in a God that comes looking for them. They
believed in a God that they had to go find. And the way you
found God, they believed, was by living the right life, following
the right rules, showing God how sincere and dedicated you are.
That’s why the Pharisees were so upset and offended with Jesus.
Jesus was suggesting that God might actually approach people
who did NOT live the right life, who followed ALL the wrong
rules, and were NOT dedicated and going to church. Luke goes
on to say, “And the Pharisees and the scribes grumbled, saying,
‘This man receives sinners and eats with them.’”
The ironic part of this is that the words of their grumbling
are some of the most beautiful words in the Bible, “This man
receives sinners and eats with them.” Here is God searching for
the lost – searching for people trapped in sins – to bring them
back into a relationship with Himself. THIS is a reason for joy,
not grumbling.
But, the Pharisees and scribes refuse to believe. They can’t
see beyond their own prejudices against these people. These
are not the right kind of people! They don’t live the right
way! They don’t act the right way! How can God care about
them!? It is at this point that Jesus begins telling parables
about the lost and the found in order to help the Pharisees,
and the scribes, and the tax collectors, and you, and me, and
all sinners understand God’s love for them – for all people.
In the first parable, Jesus compares God to a shepherd enduring
the hot, dusty, dry wilderness of Palestine searching for a lost
sheep. Imagine the tedium of looking behind or under every rock,
tracking back and forth, trying to think like a sheep and follow
it in its wandering. Then, when he finds the sheep, he must carry
it in order to bring it home. Does he grumble at all the frustration
this sheep caused him, NO! He rejoices all the way home and has a
home-coming party when he gets there.
Do you kids remember the movie “Finding Nemo?” Nemo runs away from
his dad, and gets caught. He ends up at a dentist’s office in a fish
tank in Sydney, Australia. Nemo thinks his father has forgotten about
him and that he’ll never see him again. But one day a pelican named
Nigel lands in the window of the dentist office and begins to tell
Nemo an amazing story.
“Nemo! Your father’s been fighting the entire ocean looking for you!”
“My father?” Nemo asks, not really believing it.
“Oh, yeah! He’s been battling sharks and jellyfish,” Nigel recounts.
“It’s my dad! He took on a shark!” Nemo proudly exclaims.
Nigel says, “I heard he took on three.”
Nemo is dumbfounded. He repeats, “Three?”
Nigel explains, “You see, kid. After you were taken, your dad started swimming like a maniac. He took on three sharks. He battled an entire jellyfish forest. Now he’s riding a bunch of sea turtles on the east Australian current, and the word is he’s headed this way right now to Sydney.”
“What a great daddy!” Nemo says.
But THAT is what God is like, searching out the lost. He is willing to
endure whatever he has to, in order to find us.
In the second story, Jesus compares God to a woman searching
for a coin on the dirt floor of her house. Jesus paints with
His words the image of a woman on her elbows and knees holding
a lamp near the floor with one hand while gently sweeping and
searching through the cracks and in the dust with the other.
She is slowly, painstakingly examining every inch of that floor.
These are not images of power and might. These are not images
of a God, Who sits back on His throne waiting for us to get our
act together before He lets us approach. These are humble images -
of a God we might not expect - images of a shepherd enduring the
hardship of the open country, a pathetic woman down on her hands
and knees.
These images show the hardship and shame that God is willing to
endure to find us. These images show not a proud, self-serving
God. They show a God, so full of love that He is willing to do
anything to get us back. They show us a God Who is willing to
take on human form, and live just like us. He is willing to
suffer and die on a cross, so that we might have forgiveness
of our sins.
Christ is willing to wallow through the sin, and the depravity,
and the evil of this world - the sadness, the depression, the
illnesses, and unhappiness of our lives - in order pull us out
of this emptiness and despair of life.
The climax of both of the stories that Jesus tells is the
party. Both the shepherd and the woman start celebrating the
instant they make their finds. They call together all their
friends and neighbors and ask them to join in the celebration.
Finally, Jesus closes each story by saying that there is a
continuous celebration in heaven for every sinner who repents.
Jesus' message is plain. God is completely willing to reach
out, to search out, to humble Himself in order to save sinners.
And, every time a sinner repents, heaven has a party.
If God is so willing to step down to us, in order to find us,
why do we push Him away? God doesn't appear on our doorstep,
but He does come to us in His Word in the Bible. Yet our Bibles
seem to gather more dust than anything else.
He invites us into worship, where we meet Him and hear Him
through the Words of Scripture. He urges us grow in our faith
through His Word in Bible study. And yet, so often, there are
other things we choose to do.
God calls us to let His love flow through us in our acts of
service towards one another at church, or at work, or at
home. God seeks for us to understand that when our lives -
that means, our time, our dollars, our talents - are
entrusted to God, He opens the door to greater fulfillment
and contentment than we could otherwise hope to achieve
with all of our efforts.
But too often, we don't believe this. We really don't. We
are convinced that true security and happiness in life is
something that we have to find for ourselves.
Too often, we spend our time and our emotional energy,
frightened and worried about what's going to happen to
us. Too often, we are on this planet working, fretting,
fussing, and generally feeling alone or abandoned by God.
And it is all because we have become Pharisee-like. We don't
believe - or we have forgotten - that God is the kind of God,
who really wants to reach out to us. But He does! And in
the Words of the Bible, in the holy Words of Scripture,
Christ finds us.
We possess something of such great value - the Word of God.
It has the power to save us, strengthen us, encourage us,
and comfort us. It is the very presence of God in our
lives. We possess something of such great value. But too
often, we don't see it for what it is. There is a story
about a South African woman who failed to properly care
for a valuable collection of gold coins she inherited
from her mother.
Through a series of errors the coins ended up mixed together
with the rest of the woman's loose change. While on a shopping
trip near Cape Town, she parked her car and unwittingly fed
the parking meter with several of the valuable coins. The
gold coins, minted in 1890, were said to be worth a small
fortune. But despite this extra value, the coins bought no
extra parking time.
When we push Christ away by not hearing His Word in church
or study, we are trading the eternal for the temporary. When
we push Him away by not living in the faith and love He has
given us, we exchange the priceless for the common.
And it buys us no extra peace, no added assurance, no more contentment.
But the love God never stops reaching out to us. It never
stops looking to be a part of every aspect of our lives.
The power of the cross of Jesus Christ is that His love
and forgiveness constantly reaches through the pages of
the Bible to gather us to Him.
In our sins, in our failures, all we need to do is look
to the cross in repentance. In John 12:32 Jesus, Himself,
said, “When I am lifted up from the earth (on the cross,)
I will draw all people to myself.” And in forgiveness,
Jesus draws us back.
And that is exactly what Jesus is doing here today. He has
found us, and drawn us together in His Word. It doesn’t
matter whether we are a small gathering or a large
congregation. Christ is here! As Jesus said, “Where two
or three are gathered in my name, there I am in the midst
of them.” (Matthew 18:20)
Dear friends, God’s Word carries us to our shepherd, Jesus,
today. Christ heals our hurts and our hearts by washing them
in His own forgiving blood. Through the clear waters of Holy
Baptism we are assured that we are God’s beloved children.
In this Church we have the opportunity to feed on the good
pasture of God’s Holy Word. We have the opportunity to eat
the Lord’s Supper, and be in the actual presence of the One
Who receives sinners and eats with them.
In this Church, gathered together, we are able to share the
love that Christ has shared with us, serving, giving, caring,
and loving one another. And in this Church God has given us
the opportunity to search out and reach out into our neighborhoods –
whether it is the neighborhood of this congregation, or the
neighborhood where we live, or the neighborhood of our work,
or even the neighborhood of our family.
We were lost, but now we have been found. And now, God uses
us to help find others who are lost. Thanks be to God!
Amen.
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