"The Lord Who Never Gave up on Us"(Luke 15:1-10)

Luke 15:1-10
 Every one of us has had the experience of losing something and the frustration of trying to find them. This is especially true when something is of great value to you.

 Jesus gives us the parable of the lost sheep and the woman who lost one silver coin. As we read the parable, we may find it incredulous that someone would leave 99 sheep to look for one sheep or why this woman spent so much time and effort for one coin.

 At the time when Jesus told this parable a man who owned 100 sheep would be considered rich. It is likely he had other wealth as well. It is also strange that when this man would have noticed his one sheep was missing.  Obviously, it would have been at night when the sheep are returning to their pens. To go out at night to look for one sheep in the evening and in the dangerous wilderness with wild animals is foolish. But because the man understands ownership and responsibility. He is the good shepherd and not a hired hand.

 I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.  He who is a hired hand and not a shepherd, who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them.  He flees because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep.
John 10:11-13 ESV
 
The man sees the sheep not as being lost but destroyed. Like the tax collectors and sinners who are destroyed by Sin, the good shepherd could not sit back and watch those who belong to him be destroyed.
 
“What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open country, and go after the one that is lost, until he finds it?  And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing.
Luke 15:4-5 ESV
 
We are created in the image of God and belong to him. We are his because we bear His image.
 
Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”
Genesis 1:26 ESV
 
Jesus fought for us. Just like he fought for Matthew and Zacchaeus. It is the same with us. We belong to Jesus and He will persistently pursue you.
 
The same is true with the women who lost the one coin. To her, the coin was of great value.
 
The economical imbalance still makes no sense. The owner calls for a celebration over one sheep. The cost of the celebration would have been far more than the actual cost of one sheep. For God, the joy of one turning back to Him is worth it. God desires for us to be back in His safety.
 
 What is expected of us is that we need to listen to His voice.
 
1.       We belong to God, so He will not give up on us.
2.       We are of value to Him.
3.       God will not give up on us until we are returned to him safely.
 
And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing.
Luke 15:5 ESV
 
God does not punish or lash the sheep but puts it on his shoulders to carry it. This is contradictory to what farmers or shepherds would do.
 
 God carries the sheep because the sheep does not how to get home. As sinners we may have fallen away so far away from God that we have lost the strength and will to return home. Sometimes, we are so damaged by our sins that we cannot return to God on our home. Like a sheep that was lost and injured, the only way it will get back home is if the shepherd seeks out the sheep to find it and bring it back to safety.