The Good Shepherd

Jesus is the consummate party animal. He means business, but he's also here to party. And he's looking forward to a huge party. And he wants you there. He wants you there with him. So much so that he came to earth. He died and he rose again, which all was part of going after sinners like you and like me who are lost in our sin and misery. He's a good shepherd who goes after you, lost in your sin and misery. And when he finds you, he lays you on his shoulders, rejoicing. And he calls together others saying, hey, rejoice with me for I found my sheep which was lost.

Just so I tell you, Jesus says, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over 99 righteous persons who need no repentance.

This is Christ the King Sermons. Christ the King Sermons is a ministry of Christ the King Presbyterian Church located in Raleigh, North Carolina. CTK is a community rooted in the depth of the gospel, refined by hard conversations, fueled by meaningful relationships, and committed to redemptive work in Raleigh.

Good morning. My name is Elliot. I'm one of the pastors here. It really is a privilege to be with you here this morning—to get to preach on a pretty special Sunday. We have part of our worship service dedicated to ordaining Paul Deschamps, our church planting resident, as a minister in the gospel, and that's something to be celebrated. Before we do that, you have to listen to me talk for a little bit.

The Passage

The scripture this morning we're looking at is from Luke chapter 15, on page 908 in your pew Bibles. It'll also be on the screen behind me. If you'll turn there, let's read this together.

Now, the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to him and the Pharisees and the scribes murmured saying, "This man receives sinners and eats with them." So he told them this parable: "What man of you having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the one which is lost until 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 his neighbors saying to them, 'Rejoice with me for I have found my sheep which was lost.' Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over the ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance." — Luke 15:1-7

This is God's word. Let me pray. Father, we ask that you'd be with us this morning to help us by your spirit understand these wonderful things in your word. And that your spirit would bring about the change in our hearts that you desire—that we would leave here a people deeper in love with you and deeper in love with one another. It's in your name, Jesus, that we pray. Amen.

The Consummate Party Animal

The consummate party animal—that's how one Bible scholar described Jesus as he's revealed on the pages of Luke's gospel. And it's not that different from what Cal Naughton Junior, the character in Talladega Nights, imagines Jesus. He says he imagines Jesus in a tuxedo T-shirt. Because it says, "I want to be formal but I'm here to party."

In the passage we just read in Luke 15, Jesus talks about a party—not any party, a joyous party. And not an earthly party but a heavenly party. The last verse in the passage says there's something that causes joy in heaven. In a sense, that's the punchline. And what leads up to it is the invitation—what it takes to cause or join this joyous celebration.

The passage is the first of three stories in Luke 15 that we've been looking at since January. We're looking at it last in part because we're going to spend a lot of this service ordaining our church planting resident Paul Deschamps, who's preparing to start a new church in Rolesville, about 15 miles northeast from here. And I know Paul and I know the kind of church he hopes to start. It's a church made up of people like Jesus, the good shepherd, who seeks out the lost sheep and throws a party when they're found. And it's a church of lost sheep who cause a joy-filled party in heaven when they're found by their good shepherd.

So it's a great passage for this morning. It's actually a good passage for all of us, really, any morning. The stories are an invitation, so to speak, meeting us where we are and inviting us to join this party.

So we'll look at the passage by looking at the three groups that are invited: the Pharisees and the scribes, the tax collectors and sinners, and Jesus' disciples. And as we'll see, each group is wide enough to include you.

So no matter where you find yourself in your spiritual journey, whether you're a believer in Jesus or still checking out his claims, the invitation is extended. And this is always the case. Jesus makes himself the issue. It's his party, his rules, his invitation. So you've gotta deal with him if you wanna be part of it.

Well, let's start by looking again at verses one and two. Imagine if Jesus showed up at Moe's Tavern from The Simpsons. You'd have Mr. Burns there, which would be a little weird, but he'd still be there. And you'd have those like Reverend Lovejoy and Ned Flanders frustrated that Jesus is there out of his own accord and actually enjoys spending time there. It's a black tie affair. You'd have Jesus showing up in that tuxedo t-shirt with a bunch of cheap beer swilling, ill-dressed people who clearly don't belong, didn't get the invitation, and they're there much to the disdain of the hosts.

This is what it's like for the Pharisees and the scribes to see Jesus hanging out with tax collectors and sinners. It's why they're murmuring constantly, grumbling to one another about Jesus and the people that he's associating with. See, association's a big deal for the Pharisees and the scribes. They're the religious elite of Jesus' day. They considered themselves most favored by God simply because of what they did. They spent all their time studying God's law and thinking they were obeying it.

From their writings, we know a bit about what they thought about themselves. They considered themselves, in a sense, God's gift to—well, I guess God. Listen to what they wrote about themselves: "Those who devote themselves to the study of God's law are deserving of the whole world. Friend of God, beloved of God, clothed with humility, free of sin and virtue."

They're like extreme germaphobes when it comes to anything they considered sinful. They didn't come near it. In fact, if there was a chance they might break God's law, they created another law to keep them further away from that transgression. They didn't associate with anything they considered sinners—that would defile them. And they never shared a meal with sinners, for that they thought would signal acceptance. They didn't wanna ruin their reputation. They didn't wanna ruin God's reputation by coming anywhere near to signaling acceptance of those kind of people.

Now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to Jesus, and the Pharisees and the scribes murmured, saying, "This man receives sinners and eats with them." — Luke 15:1-2

So, in response to their grumbling, Jesus tells them a story:

What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the one which is lost until he finds it? And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders rejoicing. When he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors saying to them, "Rejoice with me. For I have found my sheep which was lost." — Luke 15:4-6

Jesus doesn't tell them the story to shame them or have some kind of mic drop moment. No. He invites them into the story, holding up a mirror to their faces, so to speak, letting them see how they look. "What man of you?" he starts. You're a reasonable man. Ain't this how you would act? You got a hundred sheep. One goes missing. You do a quick count, discover it's missing. You go search for it and rejoice when it's found. I mean, we don't know for sure, but you can imagine that the scribes and Pharisees are in agreement with Jesus on this. I mean, only a sociopath would say, "Sheep's lost. I sure hope it stays lost. And by the way, I also hope it gets eaten alive by a pack of wild animals."

The Meaning of the Parable

But let me get to verse seven where Jesus explains the story:

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. — Luke 15:7

The tax collectors and sinners are the lost sheep. Jesus is the shepherd. The Pharisees and the scribes are the ninety-nine righteous persons who don't believe they have any reason to repent.

You know, it's been said that when you idolize something, you must demonize something else. When you idolize something, build your life, your value around it, you've gotta demonize something else. Whatever you have is the ultimate good in your life, the thing that truly gives you value—you must make the things that threaten it, like people different from you, the ultimate evil.

As a side note, I think that's one of the reasons we're a divided country, only shouting past one another. We're committed to winning because our rightness, or whatever that may be, has become the core of our identity.

Anyway, the scribes and the Pharisees idolized their self-righteousness. Therefore, they demonized anyone unlike them. They objectified them. They dehumanized them.

They don't treat them as individual people. They're tax collectors and sinners, near to wells, good for nothing, worthless, dirt banks. You don't rejoice when they're found. You hope those people stay lost and get eaten by a pack of wild animals. Too much? Well, think about this for a moment. If you knew more about what pleases God than anyone else and you refuse to even look like you're associating with those you're certain are unpleasing to God, what kind of love or hope do you have for them?

The scribes and the Pharisees were Israel's religious authorities. Yet they refused to even teach the people they were certain were filthy sinners. Contrast that with Jesus: he welcomes sinners and he eats with them.

The Promise of Ezekiel

But six hundred years prior to this, the prophet Ezekiel spoke against the way Israel's leaders mistreated their people using the image of shepherds and sheep. The evil shepherds advantage themselves at a cost to the sheep. They're described as wild beasts that prey on the sheep, and as a result, God himself steps in and rescues the sheep.

Through Ezekiel, God says:

I myself will search for my sheep and will seek them out. As a shepherd seeks out his flock when his sheep have been scattered, so I will seek out my sheep and I will rescue them.

That's what echoes in the story that Jesus told. God came to Earth in the person of Jesus to fulfill that promise. Jesus' very mission was to find and rescue and save the lost sheep. That's why he's welcoming the sinners and eating with them. That's why he came, and the Pharisees despise him for it.

Jesus' Rejection by the Religious Elite

Look at the passage. They can't even call Jesus by name. In their constant grumbling, they refer to him as "this man." Again, dehumanizing him by refusing to even give him a name, and then saying that he receives sinners and eats with them. They're trying to discredit his ministry and him. The religious elite refused to celebrate the work of God. Instead, they condemned it, which means they're not only condemning the tax collectors and sinners—they're standing against God himself.

In contrast, Jesus does exactly what God wants him to do: seek and save sinners. It's why tax collectors and sinners are so attracted to him. Look again at verse one. It's not some. It's all. It's all tax collectors and sinners that are drawing near to Jesus. And the Pharisees again don't like it, but to cut them some slack, it's not like tax collectors and sinners are everyone's favorite people.

Who Were the Tax Collectors and Sinners?

The tax collectors were traders that helped Rome stay in power and enrich themselves at the same time. Maybe I can explain it like this. Think for a moment about what you think is wrong with this country and who funds it. That's your equivalent of tax collectors. If the money that they used to fund it was money the government forced you to give them, and then they took more than they were allowed to take or required to take so they could buy a couple houses, nice cars, and take their kids to Disney a couple times a year—that's tax collectors.

Sinners, well, that's the general term for those everyone knew were immoral because of their actions or occupations. If one sat in front of you today, you might think, "I'm shocked they're here. Never thought that they'd show up. Never expected them to see them. I sure hope they pay attention because, gosh, I know they're gonna need this."

It's the one who had the affair with your best friend's spouse. It's the corrupt official who took a bribe to shut down your company. It's the political leader, one of the minions who's funded by the tax collectors. It's the person who cheated you. It's a person you think about and say, "How can they get away with it?"

Luke says that these are the people—not some, but all. All of them around Jesus, and Jesus is welcoming them. He's having dinner with them. And this is the crowd that Jesus is attracting. As Jesus makes clear, they're the lost sheep. He leaves the ninety-nine models of religious piety to pursue them.

More Than Welcoming

But Jesus doesn't just search for the sheep. He doesn't just welcome and eat with them. He talks to them. Again, verse one: they're all drawing near to him to hear him. If you're reading through Luke's gospel, that word "hear" would get your attention. In the previous chapter, actually the last verse in the previous chapter, Jesus says some pretty hard things about what it could mean to be his follower, and then he ends it by saying—the verse right before this one:

Those who have ears, let them hear.

That's what the tax collectors and sinners are doing. So Jesus isn't just partying with the tax collectors and sinners. He's looking for the lost sheep, not just looking for them. He's talking to them. He's telling them hard things. He's explaining what it means to follow him. He's telling them they're lost and in desperate need of rescue. He's calling them to repent.

Again, in the story, Jesus compares the celebration when the shepherd returns with the lost sheep to the joy in heaven when one sinner repents.

That means that Jesus tells them that though they've sinned against God, God takes great joy in forgiving sinners when they repent. Repentance is more than just being sorry for what you've done or sorry you got caught. It's more than just being sad over the consequences of your sin. It's not promising you'll never do it again or you're going to work to make it better. It's turning from your sin and turning to God in faith.

It starts by looking at your sin and hating it. Then you look at God's mercy and you long for that. And then in faith, you turn from your sin and trust God for his forgiveness and salvation, striving to live in a way that honors God by obeying him. It's more than just saying Jesus is savior of sinners. It's truly believing in a way that means you stake your life on it. It's truly believing that you're a sinner and Jesus is your savior. That because of your sin, the way you violated God's law and what you've done and haven't done, that you deserve death. But for no other reason than that he loves you, Jesus died to pay the penalty for your sin. This is the mercy you need: Jesus dying for your sin and God forgiving your sin because Jesus died for it.

If you realize that you're a sinner, a hopeless lost sheep, Jesus came to rescue you. And part of that rescue is that he invites you to repent. He invites you to ask God to do the very thing that brings him great joy: forgive your sin because Jesus died for it. If that's you this morning, come find anyone standing up here at the end of the service or during communion and let us know. We would love to celebrate that with you. Jesus came for you. He died for you. He came for me. He died for me. That's who he is—the savior of sinners. Sinners like you and like me.

And if you've already believed in Jesus, not just as a savior of sinners but your savior—if you realize your sin is bad enough that Jesus had to die for it and you trusted in him as your savior—this is what you did. You repented. You repented of your sin and you trusted in faith that God forgave your sins because Jesus died for them. There's a joyous party in heaven when you did this. A lost sheep was found. A sinner became God's child.

Jesus called sinners to repentance, but he also offered the scribes and Pharisees the same salvation. But to accept it, they need to believe they have something to repent of. They need to believe they're sinners too. And that's hard for those whose sense of worth is wrapped up in always being right, never making a mistake, never wrong, never at fault. As long as you don't believe you have sin and don't need to repent, you don't have a need for Jesus. When you believe Jesus died for self-righteous sinners too, well, it might seem like walking away from 98 other sheep, but you gotta believe you're lost in your sin for Jesus to rescue and save you. Jesus saves sinners and he saves the self-righteous. He invites them to this heavenly party, but then—stop there. He invites his disciples too.

Jesus told the story more than once. In this passage, the scribes and Pharisees are his primary audience, and in Matthew's gospel, he tells the same story to his disciples. Similar details, different audience. Here he's explaining what he came to do: find and save lost sheep. There, he's encouraging his disciples to go after the lost sheep as well. Or to put it another way, you know Jesus saved you, or one of the ways you know Jesus saved you, is that you want to see more lost sheep found. You know Jesus is your savior if you want fellow sinners to experience the same salvation.

So how do you go about that? Well, let me suggest three ways, all in this story: repent of your sin, go after the lost, and celebrate salvation. And if you're going with Paul to plant this new church in Rolesville, these are great things to keep doing. If you're part of here, if you're part of CTK, these are things that are very much kind of baked into what we do.

Repent

The old reformer Martin Luther said that all of life is repentance. It's repentance for your sin in general—that's a one-time thing—and repentance for a specific thing you committed—that's an ongoing thing. It's not just hating sin in general. It's hating the specific sins that you commit, recognizing that Jesus died on the cross for those specific sins and asking God to forgive that sin. And then, forgiven, you strive to obey God in all that you do.

Because I continue to sin, I continue to need to repent. Not for my salvation, but to restore the relationship between me and God that's been hindered by my sin. And when I repent of that sin to God, it also helps the relationship between me and others. That's why we have a confession of sin as part of this service every week. It's to give us a chance to do that together and give you a model for what it means to keep doing that the rest of the week. We don't just keep repenting.

We invite others to repent of their sins and trust Jesus as their savior. Like Jesus, we go and find the lost sheep and tell them about Jesus. And we go, not as one who has it together, but as a forgiven sinner, inviting others to experience the party that Jesus threw for us.

This going after the lost—it's not a mom search. What do I mean by that? Well, a mom search is where you shout something like, "Hey, mom, you seen my jacket?" without bothering to look. No. It's going after that which is lost and looking until it's found. It requires intentionality. It requires diligence. It requires time, which for many of us is the most valuable thing that we have. It may mean your schedule gets interrupted or you feel like you're inconvenienced. It may mean that, like Jesus, you put your reputation at risk. But it's worth it. You get to rejoice when God rejoices.

There is more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents. — Luke 15:7

How do you do that? Build friendships with the people that are naturally in your life that aren't yet believers in Jesus. Get to know them. Listen to them. Pray for them. Love and serve them. Invite them to your home and talk to them about how you love Jesus and Jesus loves you. And practically, there's a great series of teaching on our website called "A Faith Worth Sharing." I encourage you to listen to that if you have any questions or wonder how this could work into your life.

So keep repenting of your sins, keep going after the lost, and keep celebrating God's work of salvation. Look, if there's a party in heaven when a sinner repents, surely we can do that on earth. It's good to celebrate the things that God celebrates. If you want to know whether it's good to celebrate, well, if God celebrates it, then surely it's good enough for me to celebrate. It not only reminds us who God is; it reminds others that God takes great joy in saving and forgiving sinners. Be like the shepherd in the story and invite others to rejoice with you.

When you hear a story of God's salvation, I love the way we do this at CTK. First, we celebrate the Lord's Supper each week. We celebrate the meal that Jesus gave us to remind us that he saved us. We celebrate a meal that is a foretaste of the great celebration that awaits all God's children when Jesus comes again. I love that we get to do this every week, and I love that we call this the high point of our service. That's what needs the applause.

And we celebrate every time someone joins the church. When that happens, we get to hear how God saved them. We read their testimony out loud. It's so cool. It's one of my favorite things that we do. Some of you may know I was the lead pastor here twenty years ago, and I didn't do a great job of leading the church in celebrating when someone joined. It was less a celebration, more formality. I never read anyone's testimony out loud. I'm thankful for the change that Jeff made when he came as pastor.

So don't grumble like the Pharisees. Don't be like me and think there are more important things to get done. Be like Jesus. Celebrate. Celebrate what God is up to when he saves people. Remind yourself and others that there is great joy in heaven when a sinner repents.

I guess you could say that Jesus is the consummate party animal. He means business, but he's also here to party. And he's looking forward to a huge party, and he wants you there with him. So much so that he came to earth, he died, and he rose again—which all was part of going after sinners like you and like me who are lost in our sin and misery. He's a good shepherd who goes after you, lost in your sin and misery. And when he finds you, he lays you on his shoulders, rejoicing. And he calls together others, saying, "Hey, rejoice with me. For I found my sheep which was lost."

There will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance. — Luke 15:7

Let's join Jesus in celebration.

Father, we ask that you would help us do that now. Make us mindful of the good work you've done in us and are doing through us. And Lord, may the rest of this service be filled with much thanksgiving and much laughter and much celebration—celebrating the good work that you've done. It's in your name we ask these things, Jesus. Amen.

Thank you for listening to today's sermon. If you have questions about our content or if you want to engage more deeply with our church, visit our website at ctkrally.org. This has been Christ the King Sermons, a ministry of Christ the King Presbyterian Church located in Raleigh, North Carolina. CTK is a community rooted in the depth of the gospel, refined by hard conversations, fueled by meaningful relationships, and committed to redemptive work in Raleigh.