Saturday, January 5, 2013

January 2013 Newsletter Article

“Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Does he not leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.’ I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.” (Luke 15:4-7 NIV) I’ve often thought about raising a few sheep, not for their wool necessarily, not for meat, but just to learn what it is about sheep that is so instructive in regard to us humans that I still need to learn. References are made to Christ being the “Great Shepherd of the sheep”, pastors are referred to as shepherds, King David got his start as a shepherd; so you can see that I might be intrigued by the thought of raising sheep, if only for a short time. So far, I’ve not followed up on that, but it has crossed my mind on numerous occasions, this being one of them. The context of this passage is an accusation the Pharisees and teachers of the law leveled at Jesus, that he “welcomes sinners and eats with them.” Jesus responds with a series of three parables dealing with lost things, a sheep, a coin, and a son. For this article, I want to focus on the first—the lost sheep. The stinger or the indictment Jesus points back at the Pharisees and teachers of the law comes in verse 7. “I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.” You see, the Pharisees and teachers of the law believed that because of all the “righteous deeds” that they did, because of their strict adherence to a set of rules they themselves had created, that they were more righteous than most Jews. They did not feel a need to be repentant. The truth is that they are every bit as much in need of repentance as those that they referred to as “sinners”. The Bible reminds us that “all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.” Only those who are willing to recognize their status as “sinners”, who are willing to humble themselves before a Holy God, repent of their sin, and accept the sacrificial work of Christ on the cross as payment for their sins will truly be made righteous before our heavenly Father. If we’re counting on our actions or our own personal efforts to help us to become righteous before God, we’ll be sadly mistaken on our Judgment Day. Wouldn’t it be much better to know that the angels in heaven will rejoice to know that while we were once a “lost” sheep, we’ve now been found by the Great Shepherd? By His Grace Alone, Pastor Bruce Jacobsen