Lost and found: Luke 15: 1- 7 The Good Shepherd
Several famous people were asked what they felt was the saddest word in the English language. Here’s what some of them said,
• Poet T. S. Eliot: “The saddest word in the English language is, of course, ‘saddest.’”
• Lyricist Oscar Hammerstein II: “But.”
• Writer John Dos Passos quoted John Keats: “Forlorn! the very word is like a bell.”
• Psychiatrist Karl Menninger: “Unloved.”
• Statesman Bernard M. Baruch: “Hopeless.”
• President Harry Truman quoted John Greenleaf Whittier: “For of all sad words of tongue or pen, the saddest are these: ‘It might have been!’”
• Alexandra Tolstoi: “The saddest word in all languages, which has brought the world to its present condition, is ‘atheism.’” Put all of these answers together and you have a faint picture of a soul without Christ. I think of that word which Keats used so dramatically, “forlorn.” It is the English form of the Dutch word verloren, which means “lost.”
• Many of us are lost and we don’t even know it…George Orwell’s essays, offers a graphic image of human lostness. Orwell describes a wasp that “was sucking jam on my plate and I cut him in half. He paid no attention, merely went on with his meal, while a tiny stream of jam trickled out of his severed esophagus. Only when he tried to fly away did he grasp the dreadful thing that had happened to him.”
• The wasp and people without Christ have much in common. Severed from their souls, but greedy and unaware, people continue to consume life’s sweetness. Only when it’s time to fly away will they gasp their dreadful condition.
Here we have Jesus talking about lostness..... With a parable about sheep with great emphasis placed on the one lost sheep. He leaves 99 sheep yet one had goes missing in the country, it had wandered away, it was doing its own thing, it was completely lost... Yet the shepherd leaves the 99 in his possession and goes after the one lost sheep. Friends this parable is telling us that God cares about the human condition of lostness ..
• Have you heard the story of Shrek, not the film star, but the e merino sheep? Shrek had wandered and had evaded capture and shearing for 6 years? Yet His owner had never given up searching for Shrek. When he was finally discovered in his high mountain cave of New Zealand, he was almost unrecognizable as a sheep. The first thing his rescuer did was pin back his wool so he could see to walk. There was such an interest in Shrek’s return that the owner kept him in a pen for weeks so reporters and television stations could broadcast the amazing return of the lost sheep. And then, on live television, world champion shearer Peter Casserly shaved off 6 years of matted wool. As the shearer worked, he laid Shrek on his side with a foot of wool as his bed.
ARE WE LOST? How much is Shrek’s story like our story, haven’t we wandered away from God? The Bible says "we all like sheep have gone astray." We all have distanced ourselves from God.
You might feel a bit like Shrek tonight? Do you? Totally unrecognizable not like Shrek covered in wool who for six years had wandered, but all your life have wandered or maybe you’ve been wandering just for a few years, you have allowed yourself to become unrecognizable as you have wandered from the Good Shepherd, you are completely lost without direction, confused, lost in a very dark cave upon a high mountain and you don’t feel that there is any way out and you are completely unrecognizable, to the person you once were maybe you’ve always been that way and you feel that your sins have totally separated you from the love of God and a lostness has come over you .
V4 Here we have Good news: HE LEAVES THE 99 FOR ONE tonight HE IS SEEKING HIS LOST SHEEP OUT…Look I WANT YOU TO UNDERSTAND THIS THAT GOD CARES ABOUT YOU even though you are LOST….
• I want to tell you a story about Paul Morphy was the world’s champion chess player in the 19th century. One day he was invited by a friend to look at a valuable painting titled, “the chess player.” in the painting, Satan was represented as playing chess with a young man, the stake being the young man’s soul. the game had reached the stage where it was the young man’s move; but he was checkmated. there was no move he could make which would not mean defeat for him and so the strong feature of the picture was the look of utter despair on the young man’s face as he realized that his soul was lost.
• Yet morphy, who knew more about chess than the artist, studied the picture for a time, then called for a chessboard and pieces. placing them in exactly the same position as they were in the painting, he said, “i’ll take the young man’s place and make the move.” then he made the move which would have set the young man free.
Is your life in a check mate position? YOU may feel as though nobody really understands your predicament tonight, You might be saying how can God ever forgive my sins and sense that there is no way out. Just like the young man in the chess game you’re soul has been bought, but you got to remember there is another champion in this Church tonight who sees your predicament and wants to take your place and make the right move.
Jesus has made the move of moves on the cross at Calvary where he has died for our sins so that we might be forgiven once and for all and lives a life with the good shepherd forever. On that cross Jesus has rescued us for the dominion of sin, death the devil and snatched us from the brink of hell itself . Upon that cross he has ransomed healed and restored us who like we our praise should bring.
• Psalm 23 is a a beautiful psalm where God is seen as a caring shepherd and a dependable guide it describes detail what the Good Shepherd does for us. He provides for us, He comforts us, He heals us, He restores us, He blesses us, He feeds us, and He protects us . And if that were not enough, He died for us. John 10: Jesus himself declared: "I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep."
But I wonder can you hear his voice? John 10: 3 – 4, 14 – 16. The Good shepherd calls us to come to him.... can you hear his voice? Sheep apparently have very poor eyesight, but their hearing is very acute. Providential I I took a funeral of a local farmer this week , on talking to his wife we spoke about his work she told me that when rounding up the sheep - they would never respond to her voice – even when she mimicked it - but they always responded to David voice...... Because David was their Shepherd.
Who is your Shepherd? Beware because there are bad shepherds out there who want you to be lost, who want you to be deceived and mislead, to take you away from the one Good Shepherd of course all directed unknowingly by Satan himself.
Bad Shepherds in Jesus day …. Were the religious leaders who were the moral and spiritual guides of their day supposedly pointing them to God and yet they had become corrupt and full of hypocrisy and Jesus aw that they were leading the people into a spiritual wilderness, . Matt. 16:12, 23:1-5, 13-36, John 10:11. They were without love and commitment to God and the people.
In today’s climate who are the bad shepherds? Anybody who will want to lead you away from the truth of Jesus Christ as the one true God and Savior of the world. It can be from religious cults like the Mormons, JWs to evangelical atheists like Richard Dawkins with bestselling book the God delusion, our 21st century secular society in general, it could even be as subtle as the weekly Soaps which direct our minds into all kinds of immorality as the norm.
v2 Others were complaining…. Because he was accepting of these people who were sinners, whose lives had not been what they ought to have been, these people who complained were the very ons who should be caring and guiding. These people were in a position were blind to their own yet magnified the sins in others.
Are you like that this evening maybe you CONSIDER YOURSESLF MORALLY UPRIGHT THAT YOU’RE A GOOD PERSON AND WHEN I TALK ABOUT SIN AND HEARING THE VOICE OF THE GOOD SHEPHERD IT GOES RIGHT OVER YOUR HEAD. AND JUST MAYBE YOURE THE SORT OF PERSON WHO well complain about the sins in others, you point the finger at your neighbor who has had an affair and just ran off with another woman, and that would never be me, maybe it’s a work college who fiddles his tax return and you nod you head thinking how upright am I, maybe this week you are one of those disgusted with the horrific murders of Steve Wright. Yet underneath it all you’re not willing to address your own sins you cannot hear the voice of Jesus…….
“IF THAT IS YOU, YOU ARE IN A WORSE PREDICAMENT THAN THE INVIDUAL WHO KNOWS HES LOST, BECAUSE YOU ARE LOST AND YET YOU DONT EVEN KNOW IT!”
BEING FOUND is personal I HAVE FOUND MY LOST SHEEP
• A family search : A YEAR AGO little Madeline McCann went missing in Portugal; her parents Jerry and Kate are relentless in their search for Madeline after all it is their daughter what parent would be concerned? Would never give up? Even after all the harassment, all the speculation, they will never give up until they find their daughter.
• A far greater search is taking place, God’s search for YOU who are lost - you have wandered away, He will not give up his search He continues even tonight against all the odds He too will find YOU His children will be found.
Here we have a very personal, missing person search between the Good Shepherd and the sheep “I have found my sheep” God is our Father and He is seeking out his sheep it is a very personal search......It’s a search that will never stop until every one of his sheep is found John 10:16 I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. This is accomplished through the good Shepherd John 10:11. Who lays down his life for the sheep
Very personal too you also: Can you say: Psalm 23:1 The Lord is My Shepherd.
Professional golfer Paul Azinger was diagnosed with cancer at age 33. He had just won a PGA championship and had ten tournament victories to his credit.
He wrote, "A genuine feeling of fear came over me. I could die from cancer. Then another reality hit me even harder. I’m going to die eventually anyway, whether from cancer or something else. It’s just a question of when. Everything I had accomplished in golf became meaningless to me. All I wanted to do was live."
Then he remembered something that Larry Moody, who teaches a Bible study on the tour, had said to him. "Zinger, we’re not in the land of the living going to the land of the dying. We’re in the land of the dying trying to get to the land of the living."
Golfer Paul Azinger recovered from chemotherapy and returned to the PGA tour. He’s done pretty well.
But that bout with cancer deepened his perspective. He wrote, "I’ve made a lot of money since I’ve been on the tour, and I’ve won a lot of tournaments, but that happiness is always temporary. The only way you will ever have true contentment is in a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. I’m not saying that nothing ever bothers me and I don’t have problems, but I feel like I’ve found the answer to the six-foot hole."
Cause for rejoicing. V6 REJOICE WITH ME
In 2005 an Earth quake rocked this world hitting Pakistan and the surrounding countries it caused untold grief to millions of people leaving them displaced. Whole families were torn apart losing loved ones... One true story which brought joy to my heart was in Pakistan, where French rescue teams with specialist equipment were able to locate a small child 18 feet underneath the rubble, trapped in an air pocket. The news coverage on the BBC conveyed the proceedings live. The Father waiting anxiously for his son who was lost being unearthed and presented into his Father arms once more, the crowd who witnessed this sight exploded into a euphoria of rejoicing as this child was rescued out of the rubble, as this one child who was lost was [placed back into the loving arms of his Father.
V7 More REJOICING in heaven over one sinner than 99 righteous persons
• People often get excited.... Winning the lottery, football match , WINNING IN SPORT, ALLOTMENT IN FULL BLOOM DANCING winning competions.... How about a sinner repenting? More REJOICING in heaven over one sinner than 99 righteous persons
There are a number of righteous people in the building tonight. but not in the righteousness of their own, but in the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ, they too were lost and have been found and their hearts desire is to rejoice over others being found.... That is why the Church exists to see others come to Christ.
Can I ask “Is there one sinner here tonight lost” I believe that there could be real rejoicing in heaven tonight and also in this place because there is one person who is prepared to surrender their life. Jesus is calling sinners, is there one sinner here tonight can hear the voice of Jesus? If you do don’t resist any longer come to Him, listen to His voice....
Tonight you can have the opportunity and be the reason and part of the celebration.
The End
Aubrey Vaughan www.cbchurch.org.uk
