WORTH TAKING THE RISK FOR
This is the first in a series called, "Why the Church? Because God so Loved the World."
John 3:16-17
Luke 15:1-7
Whenever Jesus told the Parable of the Lost Sheep, there were two different audiences in the crowd that day. One was the Pharisees, who felt that their piety and power and position in Jewish society were proof of God's special blessing. The other audience consisted of those whom the Pharisees considered not worth God's time or grace -- sinners and tax collectors. Today, there is a third audience -- us who are to interpret these teachings within our own context. In particular, I'd like to explore with you, what this parable means to we who are the Body of Christ, the church.
"For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish, but have eternal life." (John 3:16, NRSV).
For God so loved the world that He did not want any to perish, but all to come to repentance,
(see 2 Peter 3:9) That all would be brought back into relationship with God and experience God's unconditional love and promise of eternal life through Jesus Christ.
So, when Jesus heard the Jewish religious leaders who stood at the fringe of the crowd of social and religious outcasts who gathered around Jesus grumbling about Jesus wasting his time on "tax collectors and sinners," He told this extradinary story.
It was about a shepherd who risked everything he had for one lost sheep. He left a flock of ninety-nine sheep out in the hills where lions and other predators would have seen this as an invitation to an all-you-can-eat mutton buffet to go in search for one sheep.
Jesus told this story to illustrate how important each individual person is to God, no matter how insignificant or unworthy others thought that person was. Each one of us is worth the risk, worth the cost of the cross.
Centuries before Jesus told this teaching story for the benefit of the Pharisees, God spoke to the religious leaders of the time through the prophet Ezekiel, saying, "I myself will search for my sheep, and will seek them out. As shepherds seek out their flocks when they are among their scattered sheep, so I will seek out my sheep. I will rescue them from all the places to which they have been scatted on a day of clouds and thick darkness." (Ezekiel 34:11-12)
"I myself will search for my sheep. I, God almighty and creator of all, will personally invest myself in the saving of the world."
Personal involvement is risky business because it becomes about the other, and when it becomes about the other, there is sacrifice of self. But God so loved the world, that we were worth the sacrifice, worth the risk of offering up His one of a kind Son, the Christ, Jesus, God among us in human flesh, to live among human beings and gather in the lost and the scattered.
I think the message to the Pharisees that day was that the people they scorned were worth the risk. That it wasn't about them and the restrictions they imposed on themselves and others to save themselves, but it was all about God, and God's incredible love for all people, and God's mission that not one be left behind and lost to the storms that batter the human heart and soul.
We are the Body of Christ, called to continue on the ministry of Christ, to become personally involved in God's mission to bring salvation to all the world. We can't do that without taking risks and making some sacrifices.
I believe this parable challenges us to incarnate, incorporate and integrate into all aspects of our lives, the passion of God's heart for those who have yet to experience the love of God through a relationship with Jesus Christ. As the Body of Christ, we only have one mission, and that is to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world. How do we make this mission our primary core value?
What attitudes and priorities need to change? How do we allocate our time and resources? What risks are God calling us to take? To what places and to what people is He sending us? How is He asking us to personally invest ourselves in the lives of others that will make a positive, tranformational impact in their lives and on the world?
Personal commitment to the mission of God is risky business. It involves sacrifice, sometimes rejection, and sometimes not seeing the outcome of our prayers and our caring and compassion.
But remember this. In the Parable of the Lost Sheep, the shepherd brings the entire flock safely back home, and there was great rejoicing. With the risks and the sacrifices come the blessings of God for all we do in His name.
John 3:16-17
Luke 15:1-7
Whenever Jesus told the Parable of the Lost Sheep, there were two different audiences in the crowd that day. One was the Pharisees, who felt that their piety and power and position in Jewish society were proof of God's special blessing. The other audience consisted of those whom the Pharisees considered not worth God's time or grace -- sinners and tax collectors. Today, there is a third audience -- us who are to interpret these teachings within our own context. In particular, I'd like to explore with you, what this parable means to we who are the Body of Christ, the church.
"For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish, but have eternal life." (John 3:16, NRSV).
For God so loved the world that He did not want any to perish, but all to come to repentance,
(see 2 Peter 3:9) That all would be brought back into relationship with God and experience God's unconditional love and promise of eternal life through Jesus Christ.
So, when Jesus heard the Jewish religious leaders who stood at the fringe of the crowd of social and religious outcasts who gathered around Jesus grumbling about Jesus wasting his time on "tax collectors and sinners," He told this extradinary story.
It was about a shepherd who risked everything he had for one lost sheep. He left a flock of ninety-nine sheep out in the hills where lions and other predators would have seen this as an invitation to an all-you-can-eat mutton buffet to go in search for one sheep.
Jesus told this story to illustrate how important each individual person is to God, no matter how insignificant or unworthy others thought that person was. Each one of us is worth the risk, worth the cost of the cross.
Centuries before Jesus told this teaching story for the benefit of the Pharisees, God spoke to the religious leaders of the time through the prophet Ezekiel, saying, "I myself will search for my sheep, and will seek them out. As shepherds seek out their flocks when they are among their scattered sheep, so I will seek out my sheep. I will rescue them from all the places to which they have been scatted on a day of clouds and thick darkness." (Ezekiel 34:11-12)
"I myself will search for my sheep. I, God almighty and creator of all, will personally invest myself in the saving of the world."
Personal involvement is risky business because it becomes about the other, and when it becomes about the other, there is sacrifice of self. But God so loved the world, that we were worth the sacrifice, worth the risk of offering up His one of a kind Son, the Christ, Jesus, God among us in human flesh, to live among human beings and gather in the lost and the scattered.
I think the message to the Pharisees that day was that the people they scorned were worth the risk. That it wasn't about them and the restrictions they imposed on themselves and others to save themselves, but it was all about God, and God's incredible love for all people, and God's mission that not one be left behind and lost to the storms that batter the human heart and soul.
We are the Body of Christ, called to continue on the ministry of Christ, to become personally involved in God's mission to bring salvation to all the world. We can't do that without taking risks and making some sacrifices.
I believe this parable challenges us to incarnate, incorporate and integrate into all aspects of our lives, the passion of God's heart for those who have yet to experience the love of God through a relationship with Jesus Christ. As the Body of Christ, we only have one mission, and that is to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world. How do we make this mission our primary core value?
What attitudes and priorities need to change? How do we allocate our time and resources? What risks are God calling us to take? To what places and to what people is He sending us? How is He asking us to personally invest ourselves in the lives of others that will make a positive, tranformational impact in their lives and on the world?
Personal commitment to the mission of God is risky business. It involves sacrifice, sometimes rejection, and sometimes not seeing the outcome of our prayers and our caring and compassion.
But remember this. In the Parable of the Lost Sheep, the shepherd brings the entire flock safely back home, and there was great rejoicing. With the risks and the sacrifices come the blessings of God for all we do in His name.
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