The Worst People in the Best Place - Part B

The story teaches us something about ourselves.

We're lost. The story also teaches us something about our God. God loves lost people. God loves wandering sheep. Jesus had a personal mission statement in Luke chapter 19 verse 10.

This is what he said about himself. Jesus coming to earth was a rescue mission. He wanted to save us from our sins and from the enemy's clutches. Today on Connect with Skip Heitzig, Skip reveals comforting insight about Jesus' tender care for you. But first, reading the stories of the Bible is a very good thing. Walking where these stories took place is at a whole other level. Skip Heitzig is planning his next tour and you can be on it.

Here's the invitation from Skip. I've been to Israel and experienced the culture that's so unique to that country. Now, I've been to Israel a number of times over the years and I can honestly say that visiting the places where the events of the Scriptures unfolded, where Jesus lived, taught, and healed, it just never gets old. We'll start on the Mediterranean Sea and head north, seeing places like Caesarea and Nazareth, the Sea of Galilee, and the Jordan River. We'll spend several days in and around Jerusalem and see the Temple Mount, Calvary, the Garden of Gethsemane, and the Mount of Olives, and much more. This remarkable itinerary is made richer with times of worship, Bible study, and lots of fellowship. The Bible will come alive to you in a way it never has before. I hope you'll join Lenny and me on what is always an unforgettable trip.

I can't wait to see you in Israel. Now, we're in Luke chapter 15 as we dive into our study with Skip Heitzig. The word parable, parabole, is a word that means to place something beside something else or to throw something next to something else. So the idea in using a parable is that I'm going to throw something unknown next to something known. I'm going to take something you know about, a situation like shepherd and sheep in those days, and I'm going to use that which you know to teach you something you don't know. I'm going to place something, a spiritual truth, next to something that you know to bring it into your heart.

So this brings us to a very important question. Since Jesus spoke so much in parables, why did he do it? What were the reasons Jesus spoke in these stories? Three reasons. Number one, to appeal to people.

Stories are appealing to people. I see it from right where I stand. Whenever I cover some spiritual truths, if I get into the theological weeds, I notice people drifting off, glazing over.

It's like, oh good, he's talking about justification again. It gets a little deep and I can lose people. I can see it. But if I say, let me tell you a story about what happened to me yesterday and what my wife said to me. You perk up.

I'm interested in that. And that's good. That's what speakers do. They use stories to draw you in because they are appealing and the truth can be appealing that way. So think of a parable as an earthly story with a heavenly meaning. And the idea is you're going to hear the story and the truth is going to stick.

It's going to be memorable. And it's just a good way of teaching. You know, Jesus could have said, the name of my sermon today is Soteriological Implications of Avian Species and Man's Faith.

And you'd lose everybody. Or he could say, behold the birds of the air. They neither toil nor spin nor gather into barns, but your heavenly Father feeds them.

Now you've got me. And he was a master at that. So he did it to appeal. There's a second reason he taught him parables. Not only just to appeal, but to reveal. To take people who are interested in spiritual truths and reveal deeper truths to them about the kingdom of God.

So he said to his disciples in Matthew 13, it has been given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God. So he took the visible world and with it he revealed to them the invisible world. He put something next to something they knew and people were drawn into it.

They understood it deeper. So it's to appeal, it's to reveal. But there's a third reason Jesus spoke in these stories.

Not just to appeal, not just to reveal, but in some cases to actually conceal. To hide the truth from certain people. Because you see, our Lord understood that when he spoke to an audience, not everybody in the audience was kingdom minded.

Not everybody was wanting deeper spiritual truths. Some people were listening to trap Jesus in his words. To spin what he said. To twist what he said.

And they did it. One of the accusations they had about him is this man said he's going to destroy the temple in three days. It's not what he said. He was speaking about his own body but they twisted it. And so Jesus would give a story, a parable, and those who aren't seeking a deeper revelation, they're not spiritually minded, they would go, okay that was a cool story but I don't get it.

I don't know what that means. And Jesus even said, that was one of his reasons, Matthew 13, after telling them I am going to give you, I'm going to reveal to you the mysteries of the kingdom, he said, I speak to them in parables because seeing they do not see and hearing they do not hear. Nor do they understand for the hearts of this people have grown dull and their ears are hard of hearing and their eyes they have closed.

Lest they should hear with their ears and see with their eyes and turn and I would heal them. So think of a parable like a political cartoon. If you read a political cartoon, if you read a cartoon about a congressman or the president and you read it in your newspaper, you'll laugh, you'll get it. Somebody from another country reads one of our political cartoons, it won't make any sense to them. They'll go, okay it's a cute drawing but I don't get it. Why?

Because they're not a citizen of this country. If you're not a citizen of the kingdom of God, the parables of Jesus are like political cartoons, you won't really get the import of them. But if you are seeking him, it will appeal to you and it will reveal to you the truth.

If you're not a citizen, it might appeal to you but it will conceal from you the truth. So that's his style. So we have the spectators, the skeptics and the style. Now let's get into the story itself and it's a short one, only a few verses, verse 4, 5 and 6.

Here it is. What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he loses one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the one which is lost when he finds it? And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders rejoicing. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors saying to them, rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost. Now in this short little story, Jesus invites his audience into a typical rural setting when they were familiar with a shepherd with sheep.

Here's the funny part. Shepherds in Jesus' day were like at the bottom of the social ladder. So, okay, the very bottom of the social ladder were the sinners, the non-religious riffraff. Just above the sinners were the tax collectors, the traders. Just above the tax collectors were the shepherds.

They were at the low echelon of the social totem pole. Now that's interesting because you go back to the Old Testament, there's some pretty notable godly figures who were shepherds like Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, David, all of them were shepherds, they kept sheep. But by the time the New Testament rolls around, Judaism has become so elite in its religiosity that these Pharisees actually despise, look down on these people of the land, these commoners who were shepherds. So it's funny that for Jesus to get these snobby religious people to imagine themselves as a shepherd was insulting, which makes me love Jesus even more.

Not that he's insulting, but it's just like, oh really? You religious snobs? Well, which of you having a sheep? And then they go, I would never have a sheep.

I wouldn't have anything to do with that occupation. But he uses that as an example. Now, to the story. Losing a sheep was serious for a couple of reasons. If you lose a sheep, the sheep could get eaten easily by a predator. One thing a sheep is not, it's not a predator. There's no such thing as an attack sheep. Have you ever seen a sign on a fence that says, beware of sheep?

Nobody cares. So another name for sheep is called lunch. It's dinner. It's an hors d'oeuvre if you're a big enough beast. So if you lose a sheep, the sheep encounters any other species. It's probably going to get eaten. Or, like we mentioned a few weeks ago, it gets turned over, it gets cast. Its legs get up in the air, it gets stuck. You have to find it and roll it back on its feet or it will die.

Circulation will be cut off, it will get asphyxiated, it will die. So, shepherds, if they lost a sheep, they themselves were responsible for the sheep. If a sheep is missing, they have to pay for it out of their pocket or they have to provide proof that it's been eaten by a predator. They have to bring back an ear or a bloody stump or something to show the owner, this is what happened to your sheep, then he's off the hook. Now this explains why the shepherd is willing to leave the 99 sheep with other shepherds and go look for the one lost sheep.

If he doesn't find the sheep, it's money out of his pocket, it's a stain on his record. Again, this is a parable. So, they know about sheep and shepherds, everybody sees them out in the pastures.

So, that's known, that's visible. Jesus is taking an invisible truth and placing it next to it. So, it's to teach a spiritual lesson. The parable, the story, tells us a few things.

It tells us about ourselves. We are lost. We are lost. All we like sheep have gone astray, Isaiah said. All we like sheep, there's none who does good, no not one, they have all turned aside. So, the story teaches us something about ourselves.

We're lost. The story also teaches us something about our God. God loves lost people. God loves wandering sheep. Jesus had a personal mission statement in Luke chapter 19 verse 10.

This is what he said about himself. For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost. If you were to have met Jesus and say, so why are you here anyway? He would say back to you, the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.

That's why I'm here, that is my mission statement. So, it tells us something about ourselves, tells us something about God. The parable also tells us something about God's ways. You see, the shepherd's behavior is very similar to God's behavior. First of all, in the pursuit, he's searching for that and he's not going to stop until he finds it. So, he's searching for the sheep. There's no indication that the lost sheep is looking for the shepherd. You don't get that in the story.

You know why? Because sheep never look for shepherds. This sheep does one thing in the story. He gets lost. It's what he's good at.

It's his job description. Hi, I'm a sheep. It's what I do. I get lost. Really, I mean, that's, if you know anything about sheep, that's true. I've had numerous conversation with shepherds. So, it's not like the sheep gets lost and finds another sheep. Hey, have you seen the shepherd? I'm really looking for the shepherd. I got to get back home.

They don't do that. You're not looking for directions. He has gotten lost. This is all about the pursuit. And this is important because people will say, man, I'm searching for God. I'm on a quest. I want to find God. And a good question to ask is, what are you going to do when you find him? But typically I say, actually, you're not searching for God.

No, I am. I'm searching for God. I want to find God. Well, God isn't lost.

You are. And the truth is, God is the one searching for you. And if you feel like you're searching for God, it only proves that that's God at work in your heart drawing you to himself and proves that he has been looking for you. That's something God is doing.

You need to respond to that. So it shows us his pursuit. Something else it tells us about God's ways, not just the pursuit, but the pity that this shepherd feels. He sees the sheep and he finds the sheep. And what does he do with the sheep? Picks it up, picks it up, places it on his shoulder. He doesn't say, okay, get up.

Okay, now that you're up, I'll help you a little bit. Now, come on, follow me. You walk this far. You're walking back. Come on back. He doesn't.

Why? Because the sheep is probably tuckered out, probably has no strength. It's completely tired and wrecked. And so the shepherd picks up the sheep, lays it on his shoulders. Now that's monumental because an adult sheep, it didn't say a lamb, it's a sheep.

An adult sheep weighs at least, if not more than 100 pounds. So it's not like he has two or three sheep under his arm walking back home. It's very deliberate to pick it up and place that weary, worn creature without any strength on his shoulders to bear him back to the fold. It shows us his pity.

And it is so like God, Romans chapter 5, when we were without strength, that is when we were utterly helpless, in due time Christ died for us. So it tells us about God's ways, his pursuit, his pity, but also the party that he throws. He says in verse 6, when he comes back home, tells all his neighbors and friends, Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost.

Obviously, this shepherd thinks this is a big deal, so much so I got to call everybody in the neighborhood together for a party. So that's the spectators, the skeptics, the style and the story. I want to leave you now with verse 7, which is the significance. Here's the takeaway from Jesus.

Here's the bottom line. Verse 7, I say to you that likewise there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over 99 just persons who need no repentance. Do you know that heaven's anthem will be over the joy of repentant sinners? That's what's going to fill the halls of heaven, the joy of repentant sinners.

Now, I got to tell you this because I don't think you'll grasp the... I mean, it's a beautiful verse, verse 7, but it's more beautiful when you understand that when Jesus uttered verse 7, probably the scribes and most definitely the Pharisees, when they heard verse 7, said, Did he just say that? Did he just say there's more joy in heaven over one sinner that repents? And the reason they did is because the Pharisees had their own saying and it was well known. The Pharisees said, There will be joy in heaven over one sinner who is obliterated before God.

That's why Jesus said, verse 7, because the Pharisees said, You know what? These people are lost. They're going to hell. I'm glad they're lost. I don't care if they go to hell.

Just get them away from me, obliterate them. Jesus said, There's joy in heaven when one sinner repents. That's why they were shocked. In fact, Matthew 21, Jesus said, talk about shocking, Assuredly, I say unto you, the tax collectors and harlots will enter the kingdom of God before you. See, the joy in heaven is not going to be that the good people are in the good place. The joy of heaven is going to be that the worst people have been taken to the good place because they are lost, but they have been found by the shepherd and they have repented. Now, I do want you to see this because it's mentioned three times in the text, and that's the idea of joy. Look in verse 5, when he has found it, finds that sheep, he lays it on his shoulder.

What does he do? Rejoicing. Rejoicing. You know, I thought about that. If I'm a shepherd and I find a stupid sheep that ran away and I got to go find that dumb thing and I find that thing, there he is turned over or half eaten.

You dumb sheep. Now, I'm going to pick it up, 100 pounds. Oh, man.

Can you help me? Thanks. Oh, put on my shoulder. And now I'm going to be complaining all the way home.

Stupid thing. He weighs so much. He ran away and this is hard.

I'd be grumbling and complaining. Not this shepherd. This shepherd is rejoicing. Got my sheep on the way home. And then in verse 6, his joy isn't contained to himself. He wants to spread it around. He comes home, calls his friends and neighbors saying, hey, rejoice with me. And they're probably thinking, you're obviously really stoked right now.

Why? I found my sheep, which was lost. So that's the second use of rejoicing. Then verse 7, I say to you, likewise, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents and over 99 just persons who need no repentance.

Now, go down to verse 10, even though it's attached to another parable, verse 10. Likewise, I say to you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents. Do you realize that one of God's most overlooked attributes is his joy? Most people don't think of God as joyful. If you were to ask the average person, what's God like? What's his emotional makeup like?

His emotional intelligence. Most people would say, I think God's kind of mad. I think I picture God as kind of arms folded, frowning at people. Not joyful.

Now there's an element of truth to that. The Bible does say God is angry with the wicked every day. But his anger is directed at the lies that keep people from the truth and the lies that keep people from his forgiveness and his joy. God is full of joy and love and compassion and forgiveness.

And C.S. Lewis, who wrote many great things, in a letter to a friend, said, Joy is the serious business of heaven. Joy is the serious business of heaven.

You don't believe me? On your own, go read Revelation 4 and 5. There's a lot of joy. There's a lot of celebration. There's a lot of anthem going on in heaven. Isaiah 65, God said, I will joy in My people. Zephaniah chapter 3, He will joy over you with singing. And I want to close by making verse 6 an invitation of God to you. Verse 6 says, when He comes home, He calls His friends together. Think of yourself as friends of God, because you're part of the kingdom endeavor. And He says to them, Rejoice with Me, for I have found My sheep which was lost. Consider God saying to you, Rejoice with Me. Rejoice with Me. How do you feel when you get to lead a person to Christ? If you've ever had the experience of praying with another person to receive Christ, you don't walk away from that going, Yeah, that was alright.

But I really, I just would rather just, I'm hungry, I'm just going to eat lunch. Whatever, no big deal. Are you kidding? You are.

I mean, I can't speak for you. I'm geeked. I'm stoked. I got to lead a person to the threshold of heaven. I'm filled with joy. How do you feel when you bring somebody to church and there's an altar call and they walk forward?

I know how you feel. You do this. You clap. You're so stoked. You're joyful. How will you feel when you get to heaven and people say, I'm here because of you? Joyful. Joyful. So Jesus said in another parable, You've been faithful in a few things. I'll make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your Lord.

God is inviting you into his joy zone today. That wraps up Skip Heitzig's message from the series Now Streaming. Right now, we want to share about a resource that will deepen your knowledge of God's word even more. Listen to what Sean McDowell said about the book Tactics. This is the book I've been waiting for.

I enthusiastically recommend Tactics. Here's Skip Heitzig to comment on how Jesus spoke out for truth. We might think that Jesus never raised his voice, that he would never call anybody out. However, there was a side of Jesus that was contentious. The Jesus that took tables in the temple and overturned them and took out a whip and drove people out of the temple.

Yeah, that Jesus. Get equipped to defend the gospel and guard against false teachings with Fight for the House, a six message series through the book of Jude with Skip Heitzig. This teaching series on CD is our thanks when you give to keep this Bible teaching ministry on the air. And when you give $35 or more today, we'll also send you a book by Gregory Kochel called Tactics, your game plan for communicating the truth about Christianity with confidence and grace.

To give, visit connectwithskiff.com or call 800-922-1888. Now we want to let you know how you can stay updated on the latest from this ministry and from Skip. Get encouragement from Skip and important announcements on social media. Just follow Skip on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

That's at Skip Heitzig, at Skip, H-E-I-T-Z-I-G. Tune in tomorrow as Skip Heitzig shares some lessons from the Apostle Paul on how you can excel and thrive as you follow Jesus. Make a connection, make a connection at the foot of the cross and cast all burdens on His word. Make a connection, connection. Connect with Skip Heitzig is a presentation of Connection Communications, connecting you to God's never-changing truth in ever-changing times.