Roamin' Mythology

Luke 15:1-2 – HCSB

All the tax collectors and sinners were approaching to listen to Him.  And the Pharisees and scribes were complaining, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them!”

Notice who wanted to be around Jesus? There’s this part of me that totally wants Jesus… and wants to be around Him… to listen to Him. It’s the part that often feels rejected by all the religious… high society type people. There’s something that is very ‘off-putting’ about religion… to many, many people. But often, when those very same people get a true glimpse of Jesus, even a taste of what He’s really like, they find something within themselves that is totally attracted to Him. It’s like the psalmist stated, “Taste and see that the Lord is good. How happy is the man who takes refuge in Him!”(Psalm 34:8). I’d suggest that the thing that is most attractive about the Master, is the fact that He is so loving to… rejects. You see, the religious elite may reject me, those in high society might refuse me – but Jesus Christ will always receive me.

I love the often-told story of the poor, dirty, homeless-looking guy who walked into a beautiful, prestigious, very upper-class church one Sunday morning. As he walked in a few minutes late to the service which had already begun, every eye in the place was glued on him as he made his way down the center isle. He slowly walked, looking down each pew for an empty seat. Finally he came to the first row, and still finding nowhere to sit, he crouched down and sat Indian-style in the center of the isle at the front. There was an audible gasp, as he did this. Then one of the older, head-ushers began to walk down that same isle, towards this visitor. The usher was an older, extremely well-dressed, rich man in this particular congregation. Every eye was upon him as he drew closer to the visitor and placed his hand upon the dirty man’s shoulder. Fully expecting him to ask the man to leave, or at the very least move, the crowd gasped in surprise again as the usher crouched down and sat Indian-style right next to the visitor.

I know that story is over-told in churches, but I still love it! I love it, because what that usher did is what I imagine Jesus would have done. The sinners of Jesus’ day loved to be around Jesus… simply because Jesus loved to be around them! The religious folks here are complaining because this is obviously a major characteristic of our Lord. They’re upset, because as they said, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them!” Notice the exclamation point?

As we’ve talked about before, in Eastern culture, it was a very special thing to share a meal with someone. Here, Jesus is sharing a meal with those the high rollers and the holy rollers didn’t think were on His… or their… level. He’s making a major statement. I love it!

Now He will drive this statement home, in three powerful ways…

Luke 15:3 – HCSB

So He told them this parable:

Notice that it says He told them a ‘parable’… a singular parable. Although He goes on to tell three different stories, one about a lost sheep, one about a lost coin, and one about a lost/prodigal son – and we often view them as three separate parables… in reality, they are but one. It’s a parable with three aspects, one play with three acts, one symphony with three movements, one song with three stanzas…it’s actually a pretty cool picture of the Trinity:

·        The shepherd searching for the lost sheep in the first stanza speaks of Jesus… the Son.

·        The woman searching for the lost coin in the second stanza speaks of the work of the Spirit.

·        The father in the final stanza speaks of the Father heart of our awesome God.

We will spend some time on these three aspects over the next month or so, because they reveal so much to us about our Lord. One of the other things I love about this parable is what it teaches us about one of the biggest debates of all time in Christianity: Calvinism vs Arminianism.

In the mid 1500’s, John Calvin came on the scene as a strong proponent of the exclusive role of divine sovereignty in salvation. That is, that man is depraved and hopelessly lost. Therefore, the Lord chooses him apart from anything he can do. Jacobus Arminius disagreed. A contemporary of Calvin, he believed man’s responsibility was definitely a factor in his salvation. After all, hadn’t Jesus said, ‘Come unto Me’? Therefore, Arminius maintained, each person must make his own decision whether to be part of the kingdom.

Recently, we had a young man living with us who would love to sit and talk for hours about this subject with me. It is always intriguing to get in discussions on this particular subject, because people today, much like Calvin and Arminius in their day, have very strong opinions about this subject.

I believe taking either one of these to the extreme is incredibly wrong. An extreme Calvinist would never feel a need to witness. An extreme Armenian would be vulnerable to pride. So what is the answer? I love it, because in this single parable, both positions are taught. Hopelessly and helplessly lost, the sheep and the coin are sought by the shepherd and the woman. But in the story of the prodigal, it is the son who decides to turn toward his father.

Consequently, maybe the best answer to give when someone asks me my opinion on this issue is for me to simply ask them back, “Where do you stand?” And when they tell me, I should just say, “I’m with you, bro”. Because the truth is, dividing over something that I can’t really understand, and that there is lots of Scripture to support both ideas, seems silly. God is way bigger than my understanding. Maybe we should all just marvel at how awesome our God is that He would choose us, and at the same time be eternally grateful that He provided a way for us to choose Him.

Luke 15:4-5 – HCSB

What man among you, who has 100 sheep and loses one of them, does not leave the 99 in the open field and go after the lost one until he finds it?  When he has found it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders,

I really think the shepherd in this first part of the parable is a picture of Jesus, the Son. Remember that Jesus called Himself the “… good shepherd”. Then He went on to say, “…The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep” (John 10:11). In our text, the Shepherd puts the lost sheep on His shoulders. When you think about the ‘shoulders’ of Jesus, what comes to your mind? For me, it’s the Cross… which reminds me of something absolutely tremendous: Not only does Jesus go out and find us, but He Himself became a Lamb to be sacrificed for us. 

Now the sheep in the story are a great picture of all of us. You know why… because sheep are pretty dumb animals. They are one of the only animals that can get lost very easily, because of their tendency to wander off. As a matter of fact, even if you put food out for them in the same place – you know how most animals will learn to return to that place and expect a meal – sheep will not do that. No matter how good the food is… sheep will allow their curiosity to lead them astray and away from protection and nourishment time and time again. Sound familiar? “We are all like sheep and have gone astray” (Isaiah 53:6 & 1 Peter 2:25).

Luke 15:6-7 – HCSB

and coming home, he calls his friends and neighbors together, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, because I have found my lost sheep!’ I tell you, in the same way, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over 99 righteous people who don’t need repentance.

When somebody gives their lives to Jesus, declares that He is their Savior and Lord, we’re told there is great celebration in heaven about it. Pretty cool idea, right?

Have you ever back-slid? Have you ever “wandered off”? Maybe you were, at one time, going after God and really walking with Him, but then ‘self’ got in the way and you went the other direction? You had a season, like the prodigal son we’ll read about later in this chapter, where you strayed far away… from the Shepherd.

If you have had times like that… and if you have returned to relationship with the Shepherd again… what was it exactly that caused you to come back?

Do you think that doing that every so often… is okay? “Hey  Pastor Michael, if it causes all heaven to rejoice each time a sinner repents, that’s awesome… I’ll give them reason to party every single day! I’ll just keep wandering off and then repenting!”

Let me tell you about another guy who had his times where he wandered off, a guy named David – who was also a shepherd – and who prayed an interesting prayer:

“Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones You have crushed rejoice.” (Psalm 51:8)

You see, in Biblical times and still to this day in this part of the world, shepherds would take their flocks out for very long periods of time in order to graze and find grass and water. If a lamb wandered away habitually into areas that could be potentially destructive, the shepherd would break its legs. Then, after carefully setting the bones, he would carry the lamb on his shoulders while the bones mended. That might take weeks! When the lamb was healed, so close did it grow toward the shepherd that from that time on, it would never leave his side.

And right there is the reason for not roaming and wandering away. Every time you find 'self' in the way of Jesus. Every time you think a particular sin isn’t so bad, think ‘snap’... because that’s what will happen – not because the Lord is vindictive or angry, but because He wants to save us from danger and damnation.

If, like me, you’ve had a few broken bones on your journey, you too are learning to say, “Lord, I want to stay right next to You every step of the way!”

May you and I be those that don’t buy into the myth that being a Christian is merely believing certain things, while our lives are like some kind of roller-coaster, where we are up one minute and down the next, where we have times when we are close to Jesus and other times where we are wandering far, far away from Him.

May we see that right next to the Shepherd is the very best place to be… because of His great love for us.