St. Luke 15:1-10
Divine Service
Pentecost 16 (Proper 19)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ:

One of the more difficult aspects of Christianity is to remain a member of the same congregation for five, ten, or even twenty five years and in some cases for 50 years.  Why?  Because you get to know the people that you are worshiping with – you get to know them very well – maybe “too” well.  For instance, the organist knows when to get up and get ready to play approximately two minutes before I say “amen.”  My sermons that maybe were new and refreshing to you may be more predictable to you now that you’ve heard them for a couple of years.  As you look around the church, you may think that some of these people you are worshiping with are not as spiritual as your picture of a perfect Christian.  So you start to think to yourself, “I wonder if this church is really for me.  Maybe I need to find a stronger congregation – a different approach to God’s Word – a congregation of people that are more spiritual – that can help me to grow more.”

This kind of attitude is similar to how the Pharisees and the Sadducees approached Jesus.  God’s Word for today says, “Now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear him.  And the Pharisees and the scribes grumbled, saying, ‘This man receives sinners and eats with them.’” When the Pharisees saw Jesus continually eating with tax collectors and sinners – this was offensive to them.  Tax collectors were known to extract more money than they were supposed to from the Jews – it was in fact a legalized form of extortion.  Most of them were crooked.  Knowing the background of these “sinners” caused the Pharisees and teachers of the law to “mutter” about this “congregation” that Jesus had joined around Himself.  But what were these Pharisees were doing there in the first place?  They didn’t come to be a part of the congregation.  They only came to judge and find things wrong with Jesus – basing their judgments on the PAST of Jesus’ followers.  Do you see the basic difference between the tax collectors and the Pharisees?  One group came to hear, the other came to judge.

It’s easy to come to worship with the attitude of the Pharisee.  It’s easy to find fault with people in the crowd and wonder to yourself – “what are these people doing here?”  As Christians, we realize that we are not a perfect congregation; and most of us don’t expect that.  Yet the problem we have even as Christians is that we do get to know each other, and then it’s easy to see the ugly side.  We all come here as sinners needing the grace of God; yet it so easy to despise each other because of our weaknesses.

But that’s the easy thing to do because we all have some of that arrogant little Pharisee within – the kind that wants to judge all the people.  It’s that part of us that even likes to despise our fellow Christian because they weren’t strong enough to keep from falling into sin.  In reality this attitude shows our true weakness – the inability to look beyond who you are worshiping with and just come to hear the Word of God – like good sheep do.

Jesus once said, “Judge not, that you be not judged.  For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you.  (Matthew 7:1-2) This passage has come true as the Pharisees who were the most judgmental have been judged the most throughout history.  The same will happen to you if you come to God with such an attitude.  If you come here thinking that you are somehow more righteous than the other members because you have led a better life or you know your Bible better, God is going to spit you out of His mouth on Judgment Day for your blatant and blind arrogance.  The message that Jesus was giving by eating with these “sinners” was very clear – He didn’t welcome people based on their past.  He simply wanted those who came to listen.

Jesus – the Shepherd – had something to feed the Pharisees , (even though they didn’t come to listen), and it was a very important lesson.  They may not have heard what Jesus had to say– but by God’s grace it was written down for us to hear yet today.  Let’s listen to what He has to say:

“What man of you, having a hundred sheep,” Jesus said.  This was not an abnormal thing for someone to own a hundred sheep.  Naturally, you would need to take these sheep out to graze in the not so green wilderness that was scattered throughout Israel.  What Jesus was doing with these words was trying to put us into His shoes as the owner of the sheep.  Being the owner of a hundred sheep, though not an abnormal number, is not an easy task because sheep are just plain dumb and skittish animals.  Walking through a wilderness for grazing pastures is not a easy thing to do – especially through rough terrain and with wild animals around.

“What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them…”.  The root word for “lose” is, in Koine Greek, avpo,llumi.  It’s the same word that Paul used when he was describing a soul that ends up in hell.  (1 Corinthians 8:11, Romans 2:12) That’s what happens when Christians who are within the fold suddenly to decide to run away from their fellowship with Christ and their fellow sheep; who foolishly seek a nice looking ewe from another flock or a green pasture on the other side of the creek.  Their souls are temporarily lost and on the way to hell.

But what does the shepherd do – even for just one sheep?  “Does [he] not leave the ninety-nine in the open country, and go after the one that is lost, until he finds it?”  He doesn’t say, “too bad about that one; I’m not going after it.”  You could see why he could do that - can’t you?  Just think about the trouble that this causes - to go after that one sheep will take the shepherd out of the comfort of his own flock; out into places that flock isn’t supposed to go; into dangers that could even threaten his own life.  Yet the shepherd goes, because he cares for that one sheep.  He wants to save it even though it left of it’s own free will.

Isn’t that a perfect description of what Jesus came to do?  He went down dangerous roads; He touched deathly ill people; He willingly walked a path that led him down the most dangerous road of all – into hell itself – He went to the cross – He was separated from His own Father – all for a bunch of lousy sheep.  But Jesus didn’t come away from that cross empty handed.  Three days later He rose with the blood redemption of the entire world on His shoulders.  It didn’t matter to him that it was THEIR fault.  It didn’t matter what it would cost Him pain and suffering and death.  He came to save each individual sinner.  That’s what He does.  A Shepherd is a Shepherd.

“And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing.”  Notice who does ALL the work here.  Who does the finding?  Who does the picking up?  Who does the carrying?  Who brings it home?  The scared little sheep does absolutely NOTHING.  The shepherd does everything.  Salvation is a free ride.  God sought you when you were going astray.  God found you while you were astray.  God picked you up with His blood and righteousness.  And God gladly carried you home through your baptism and the faith that He brings.

And how did God respond when He got you there?  “He calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.  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.”  There was no sorrow over the past state of the sheep.  There was no anger over what the sheep had done.  There was no list of things the sheep had to do to make up for all the work he had put the shepherd through.  There was only joy.  The angels rejoiced and God rejoiced.  Maybe even the saints in heaven rejoiced.

The Bible is absolutely full of examples like this.  The congregation of Corinthians was full of people who were at one time homosexual, prostitutes, drunkards and swindlers.  But when they repented and were brought to faith, they were welcomed into full membership.  When Peter was sent to the Gentiles and Cornelius to preach the Gospel to them, God converted all of those who had come into contact with Peter in Acts 11.  At first, the Jews were skeptical.  But after Peter explained, they had no further objections and praised God, saying, “then to the Gentiles also God has granted repentance that leads to life.”  (Acts 11:18) They were glad that these former sinners and unbelieving Gentiles were brought to repentant faith.  When Saul had been changed from a murderer of Christians into a member of the flock, Acts 9:21 says, “and all who heard him were amazed and said, "Is not this the man who made havoc in Jerusalem of those who called upon this name?  And has he not come here for this purpose, to bring them bound before the chief priests?”  Instead of being angry about it, they were astonished!  Even though they knew what Paul had done they still rejoiced that this man who had once been thought of as an enemy was now a believer in Christ.  They didn’t hold any grudges.  They gave no “trial periods.”  After repentance, they were simply accepted in with open arms.

Some fifteen years ago Jeffrey Dahmer was convicted of killing and eating young men in Milwaukee.  Some people claim that he was brought to repentance; he realized that what he did was wrong – he even expressed sorrow over it – and came to faith in Jesus before he was murdered in a Wisconsin prison.  What does that mean?  If this is true, is he indeed in heaven?  Without any punishment whatsoever?  Something doesn’t seem right to our reason – to imagine that he should get to spend an eternity in heaven after leading such an immoral and heinous life.  It seems too easy.

Yet isn’t that the very crux of our faith?  Isn’t the very message of the Bible that “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost?”  (1 Timothy 1:15) Christianity is the only religion that offers a free salvation – not based on the punishment of ourselves – but on our punishment meted out to the Son of God.  God doesn’t base His love for us on how good we have been in the past – but on the blood and sacrifice of Jesus Christ.  If we had to base any of our salvation on the way we perform, how many of us could ever be sure of our salvation?  But the message of the Bible is clear.  “For by grace you have been saved through faith.  And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God , not a result of works, so that no one may boast.  (Ephesians 2:8-9) Either ours is a religion of grace or it isn’t.

If this is offensive to you, then you are in the wrong religion.  You had best join the Pharisees or the teachers of the law and start finding your righteousness in how much better you are than everybody else.  On the other hand, if this is something that you rejoice in, then you have come to listen and this is sweet music to your ears.  Why?  Because you know that God sought you when you sought him not.  You know that even though you may have gone through sheepy times where you walked away from the Lord, He didn’t give up on you.  He went and brought you back to repent of your sins and to believe in Jesus as your Savior.  You know that God has come to save you.  You know that God loves you in Christ.  Even though you may have been one of those sheep that went astray, God still REJOICED when you came back.  Therefore, should we be angry and upset over the fact that there are members of our congregation who have at some time in their life gone astray?  Should it offend you that you may be standing next to someone who has committed some terrible and very visible sins in his or her past?  Or should it be a reason for you to REJOICE that that person is now standing here worshiping the same God with the same faith that you have?

It may sound too easy for that sheep – that lost sheep – to be carried back on the Shepherd’s shoulders with nothing to do but smile.  But put yourself in the sheep’s feet.  If you were that sheep – being carried on the Shepherd’s shoulders – would you have wanted a big party for your return?  Would you not have been embarrassed at making your Master walk all that way?  Just imagine the embarrassment that David had – for the rest of his life – at the sin he committed with Bathsheba and Uriah.  How he must have abhorred the day he sought company with his neighbor after viewing her from the top of his roof.  How he must have kicked himself and said, “why didn’t I just LISTEN to my servant!”  Yet when Nathan brought David back to the fold, the heavens rejoiced.  God took David’s sins and threw them behind His back – into Jesus’ grave – never to be seen again.  Oh, how David must have had to cling to Nathan’s words for the rest of his life, “your sins are forgiven.”  It’s the words we as sheep love to hear every day.  It’s what keeps us within the fold every day of our lives; just to hear our Savior’s voice.

No matter what the rest of the congregation knows about you – no matter what the world thinks about your coming to church – don’t let that get to you.  You didn’t come here to impress anyone.  You didn’t come here try and show people how holy you are.  You came here to hear the Savior’s voice.  You came here to hear him say, “Welcome back.  Your sins are forgiven you, in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”  Amen!

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