Leaving the 99
We live in a world that increasingly decreases the value of the ONE.
$100
I’ve got a question for you. I have $100. At least I had $100. I lost $1. What should I do?
I’ve got 2 Options:
1 // I can leave the $99 here and go look for the $1 I lost.
2 // I can forget the $1 and be happy with the $99 I have.
What should I do?
If I leave the $99, I’m not sure what will happen. I mean, what if someone comes and takes my money! What if I leave it here and the AC cuts on and these dollar bills get scattered and when I get back I can’t find them all?
Why can’t I take them with me while I search for the $99? I don’t like to walk around with that much cash on me. I’d rather just leave it here or just forget about the $1 and move on.
Why don’t I leave the $99 here with you? Yea, I don’t trust you! 🙂
If I forget about the $1, then I’ve only got $99. I know it’s a risk to the leave the $99, but if I can find the $1 then I’ll have a $100 again! My momma raised me to believe that every dollar matters.
What should I do?
Decreasing the Value of the ONE
We live in a world that increasingly decreases the value of the ONE.
We see this in the world around us all the time.
The United States dollar continues to decline in value. Now I’m not an economist but we all know this is true. What I could buy for a dollar when I was a kid versus what I can buy for a dollar today… it’s very different. Someone smarter than me could explain inflation and how the economy works… all I know is that it takes more money to buy groceries and gas today than it did 25 years ago!
But it’s not just money.
We devalue people as well. Social media has taught us that people aren’t worth our time, our love, or our respect. They say that social media has given us a way for every person to have a voice, a platform for every person’s voice to be heard, and every person’s point of view to matter. I don’t know about you, but by and large what I see on social media is the opposite. It’s largely a place where people say whatever they want to say, feel like they have the permission to be mean, unkind, and hurtful with little to no regard for others. Why do people do this? Because they increasingly decrease the value of others.
God’s Economy
We live in a world that increasingly decreases the value of the ONE. But that’s not the way things are in God’s economy!
Jesus demonstrated this in the way he lived, but also in the stories he told. I believe this is one of the primary reasons Jesus once told this story about ONE sheep that once got lost.
In Luke 15.4, Jesus says…
“If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them gets lost, what will he do?”
We’ve talked about that question, but let’s pause and think about that for a moment. Jesus sets up a situation where his audience has essentially two options.
Option 1: Abandon the one in favor of the ninety-nine.
Option 2: Abandon the ninety-nine in favor of the one.
What’s the man going to do? Which one will he abandon, which one will he leave?
Option 1:
He can choose to do what the world so often does… he can DECREASE the value of the one and prioritize the KEEPING of the ninety-nine. That’s what conventional wisdom would suggest.
After all, it’s just ONE sheep.
Option 2:
Or… he could leave the ninety-nine to go search for the ONE, But… What if…
What if he leaves the 99 and someone comes along and steals his sheep? What if he leaves the 99 and the weather turns bad and the wind blows and the sheep scatter? What if an enemy or predator comes along, a lion, a tiger, or a bear! and the sheep become afraid and run off in every direction! What if…
What if…
What happens when WHAT IF becomes the primary decision making factor for the shepherd?
What happens when WHAT IF becomes the primary decision making factor for the church?
Going after the lost means leaving something behind. But going after the one who is lost means that the flock is restored to 100. For Jesus, that was the primary decision making factor. So Jesus says…
“Won’t he leave the 99 others in the wilderness and go search for the one that is lost until he finds it?”
Imagine what would have happened if the man in the story had made a different decision that day.
Imagine he said, If I leave the 99 who knows what will happen? There might be lions and tigers and bears! O My! It’s only 1 sheep… but now that shepherd only has 99 sheep. And that is all well and good until one day when another sheep gets lost. Now he only has 98. He could go find that sheep. But, he’s really more worried and concerned with keeping the sheep who are safe, safe.
Time goes by. And seasons change. And one day that shepherd looks up and realizes his flock is now only 75 sheep. Or 50 sheep. Or less! One thing is for sure, as long as he prioritizes keeping the safe sheep safe, his flock will never grow. At best it will stay the same, at least for a while. But even if he’s able to not lose another sheep to the wilderness, the sheep he has will eventually grow old, get sick, and die.
At what point does the shepherd decide, Maybe I should be more concerned with the lost sheep than the safe sheep? At what point is it too late?
Would you call a shepherd who doesn’t go after lost sheep a good shepherd?
Keeping the Saved, Saved
Let’s turn the focus from the man in the story to the church today.
How many churches do you know like that? In their effort to keep the saved, saved, they’ve never been about the work of seeking and saving the lost. Maybe they baptize their own kids. Maybe they swell in membership from time to time when other people leave other churches and come to their church. But praying for the lost, loving the lost, seeking and saving the lost, creating space to invite people who for whatever reason are far from God into their lives or into their church, that’s not what they do.
They would never say this, and they probably don’t even believe this, but in PRACTICE they chose to abandon the ONE and they’ve tried to KEEP the 99 SAFE.
Jesus & Upside Down Kingdom Thinking
What I want to suggest that Jesus does in this story is that he turns that way of thinking on its head. This, I believe, is another example of how everything in the Kingdom of Heaven is upside down. This is another great reversal.
Jesus was famous for doing this and we talk about how this works when Jesus says things like…
“Give, and it will be given to you.”
It doesn’t line up with the wisdom of the world. The world says, if you want to get rich work hard, save every penny, and put yourself first! But Jesus says, GIVE! Give, and it will be given to you! And some of you have experienced this counterintuitive, upside down, kind of of wisdom in your own life. You’ve given your money in faith to God, to his church, not sure how you would pay your bills, or do the things you had planned… and then, out of nowhere, God blessed you in a way you never saw coming!
Jesus said things like…
“Whoever wants to become the greatest should become the servant of all.”
Again, it doesn’t make sense according to the wisdom of the world. The world says if you want to be number one you have to work your way to the top, put yourself first, and keep your power, your position, over people. Yet even in the world around us people who don’t believe in Jesus have realized how true this idea is so they write books about be a Servant Leader and following the wisdom of Jesus on leadership!
What I want to suggest today is that Jesus does the exact same thing here in this story about a lost sheep. What I believe Jesus is saying is that the ONLY WAY to keep the 99 safe is to go after the ONE!
It sounds counter intuitive. But remember, this story isn’t about sheep. It’s about people.
We think the only way to keep the saved, saved is to stay with the 99. Make sure they’re happy and they stay here. But what if the only way to really keep the saved, saved is to always be about the work of seeking and saving the lost?
Rob
I have a friend who’s name is Rob.
Rob is a little older than I am, and a little wiser, too! After I first met Rob he invited me to go to lunch with him. Of course, I accepted. I’m always down for lunch with a friend!
He invited me to meet him at a Sushi restaurant. Now, I know some of you are sushi lovers and that’s great. I’m just one of those strange people who like my fish cooked. So, I wasn’t too sure what to order when I got there. I was relieved to find that they had lots of seafood items on the menu that people like me could choose from.
After our waiter had given us time to look over the menu he came over to take our order. I had noticed that my friend Rob had never even looked at the menu once. I didn’t know if he had been there a lot and knew what he wanted, or if maybe he had decided before I had gotten there. As it turns out, he hadn’t.
When our waiter asked him what he would like to eat, my friend Rob looked at the waiter and asked, “I don’t know. What is your favorite thing on the menu? What do you think I should order?”
Immediately our waiter lit up with excitement and started sharing all of his favorite items on the menu and he and Rob were having a great conversation about food. Then Rob said, “I tell you what, surprise me. You bring me whatever you would like for me to try!”
In that moment my friend Rob did something at a restaurant table I had never seen done before. He communicated such respect, value, dignity, worth, and trust to our waiter. Through that one exchange he created an instant relationship with another human being unlike anything I had ever seen before. And it was so amazing. When our waiter walked out with our food, he was beaming at Rob. And every five minutes he was checking on us asking Rob, “Do you like it? I knew you would like it. It’s one of my favorites, too!”
Why did Rob do this? What you need to know about Rob is that he’s spent years in the mission field. He’s a missionary by trade. And he’s spent the majority of his life looking for lost sheep. So he’s found all these ways to connect with people, to communicate love, dignity, trust, and respect with people he’s never met before so that he might have the opportunity at some point to share with them the hope we have in Jesus. And all he did was ask the waiter to bring him his favorite food on the menu.
On the Lookout for Lost Sheep
How can you be on the look out for lost sheep?
I want you to think about that question NOT because I’m interested in church growth. Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for being a part of growing God’s church. But we’re not talking about this because we want our church to become the next mega church. That’s not the goal.
The reason I want you to think about this is because I believe Jesus knows something that is true about you and true about me that isn’t obvious to us. Jesus knows that in order to keep the 99 saved, we have to be less concerned with the 99 and more concerned with the ONE who is lost.
And even though that sounds upside down, even though it’s counterintuitive , it couldn’t be more true. Our passion for the lost, for seeking and saving the lost, is the very thing that will align our hearts with the heart of God and keep those of us who are a part of the 99 whole.
This is how things work in the Kingdom of God. So, if you want to save the 99… GO AFTER THE ONE!
It’s only when we make this shift in our hearts, when we begin to love the lost the way God loves the lost. when we INCREASE the VALUE of the ONE, that we align our hearts with the heart of God.
We are Found
We are never more like Christ than when we are passionate about seeking and saving the lost. And we become more like Christ when those who are far from God are the ones we’re praying for, caring for, and searching for.
So what if going after the lost sheep isn’t just about saving the lost sheep, but its about saving the whole flock?
What if, when we become a church that is passionate about finding lost people what happens is that not only are lost people found but we are found?
Not only are those who are far from God brought near to God, but we are drawn near to God. Especially when we participate with God in helping lost people find their way home.
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