Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Hey, good morning and welcome to our online experience.
[00:00:04] Today is a special Sunday because we are doing our annual Lakeview baptism service. So if you're watching this and you still have time to come in person, I want to encourage you to come because we have the incredible privilege of baptizing about 27 people today. What an amazing privilege that is. And your presence would matter, and we can celebrate this amazing thing.
[00:00:31] But if not today, I want to share with you a message about all this. But right before we do, let's pray. Father, we thank you so much. That, Lord, you are a God who seeks and who saves. Thank you. That you are a God who rejoices when we are found and brought to you. And that you are a God who has come for us. Father, help us to share in that joy, to receive that joy, to. To partner with you, to bring that joy. And, Lord, we pray that you would just inspire us today as we look at your word, give us understanding, and in Jesus name, amen. Well, I don't know if you have anybody in your life that's really hard to buy a gift for.
[00:01:14] And it's not that you don't want to buy gifts for. It's not that you don't appreciate them, you love them, but you're like, it's hard to get something for them because they kind of have everything.
[00:01:24] And maybe they might even kind of be the type of person that if they don't have it, then they will get it themselves. So kind of gift buying becomes difficult. Or maybe you've had, like, a gift exchange and you're like, all right, I can take these names. And I feel pretty confident I can figure something out. But these names are going to be a tough go, because what do you give someone who kind of seems to have all that they need, all that they want, or maybe what they do want is just beyond your capacity to get them something. We've all probably been in that situation and felt a little bit of that frustration.
[00:02:04] And one of the interesting things that we see Jesus teach us about is the idea of heaven, that our lives don't end with earth, that there are realities beyond the grave, that heaven and hell are eternal destinations. And one of the things that Jesus shows us and the New Testament shows us is that heaven is this place that restores everything that's messed up and broken in this world. It's this place of tremendous joy. There's. The Bible uses all kinds of ways to, like, describe it to us, and it's like this place where there's no tears Shed there's just unbelievable celebration. There's reunion, that all the things we feel we lost in this world, we get them back, but we get them back better. It's this place where you go there and you don't expect that you would have anything to add to it.
[00:03:04] How can you make the perfect place better? Right? Doesn't really make sense.
[00:03:09] Do we have anything we could actually add to it? Now, here's what's really interesting, is that Jesus says we actually do have something to add to it, that we do have something that can bring a greater joy to this incredible reality beyond the grave.
[00:03:32] And I want to just share with you today, and this might sound weird to you, but just stay with me on this. I want to show you that you and I, we have a gift that we can add to heaven, believe it or not. And here's how Jesus explains this. This is in Luke 15, starting at verse three. And he says this. It says, so he told them this parable. And a parable is just a story with spiritual meaning behind it. So he told them this parable. He says, what man of you?
[00:04:01] So he's talking to a group of people and he's saying, okay, think about yourself for a second. What? What man of you? That's the audience having a hundred sheep. Now, I know most of us, we probably don't have 100 sheep. We're probably topping out at 20, 25.
[00:04:17] Just kidding.
[00:04:18] We don't have any sheep. But this is a shepherding society, an agrarian society. What man of you having 100 sheep? If he's lost, one of them does not leave the 99 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 shoulder, rejoicing. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost. And then listen to this, just so I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven.
[00:05:02] More joy. In other words, it can be added to, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over 99 righteous people who need no repentance.
[00:05:18] Now, this story is so informative to us, it's so powerful, and honestly, it's so comforting.
[00:05:26] And I want to just share a couple ideas from this with you today. The first thing I want us to see is that we need to come to issue with the idea of lostness.
[00:05:37] And this is actually one of three parables that Jesus tells. And they all deal with this idea of lostness, of a sheep being lost, a coin, brothers being lost.
[00:05:47] And this is kind of an interesting thing to think about, because most of us. I don't know about most of us, but many of us, I think you'll agree with me, we have a hard time admitting when we're lost.
[00:06:01] See, sometimes in my life, there have been moments driving around and someone was sitting next to me in the car, and they would kind of ask questions, getting at like, are you lost right now?
[00:06:15] And of course I'm not lost.
[00:06:19] Of course I know where I'm going.
[00:06:23] Right. And, you know, it's just kind of something that's a little.
[00:06:26] I don't want to admit that I maybe have a hard time believing in the possibility of that. Sometimes you walk in a store, I don't know if this happens to you, and people are like, can I help you find something? Like, no, I know where I'm going.
[00:06:43] And I just kind of go look around and eye on eye, and then come back to me like, hey, sir, can I help you find something?
[00:06:49] No, I'm just looking at all of your inventory here. I just want to see at all.
[00:06:55] I don't like admitting that I don't know where I'm going. I don't know where I'm at. I don't know how to get from where I'm at to where I need to be. I don't like to admit those realities. And I think that that's probably many of us. And then sometimes in life, you actually don't know you're lost until you fail to hit some milestone, right? Or some landmark or like, oh, okay, I've actually been going the wrong way for a little while now. That happens to us in the car, and it happens to us at the store. But here's what I would say. It also happens in our soul and in our life and in our relationships, in our families. And sometimes in life, it's like, we are lost, but we won't admit it.
[00:07:39] Cause, like, we're, you know, we're a little too prideful.
[00:07:44] Or we won't acknowledge it because we don't want to face that reality. We're like, no, I'm confident. I can figure my way out, but we really can't.
[00:07:53] And we get lost. We all do. And we all struggle with this.
[00:07:58] And sometimes we go through life and we hit milestones, we hit ages, we hit events, and we have something happen in our marriage, and we're like, whoa, lost right now.
[00:08:11] And everything I've been Chasing after has actually been. They're not the right things. I don't know what the right thing is. And we have this sense of lostness. We get to a certain age and we're like, man, I thought my life was going to look a lot different at this age.
[00:08:25] And we feel lost. We're like, okay, well, kind of all my expectations have evaporated. Some of my hopes and dreams seem gone and not going to happen. And now I'm kind of honestly feeling a little bit lost. And I want you to know today, if that's you, you're not alone.
[00:08:42] That's why we have this story that's all of us.
[00:08:46] That's part of the difficulty of being a human being. Now, actually, Christians aren't the only ones that believe this. I've recently been reading this great book called Technopoly by Neil Postman, and it's all about technology and how it shapes how we experience and understand the world.
[00:09:05] Now, what's really fascinating about this book is he wrote it in 1992, and our technology has skyrocketed since that point. But what many people say is, like, man, this guy really could see ahead of what was happening, how it was going to change how we think about the world, how we understand, experience the world. Now, one of his points, to just kind of simplify it, one of his points is he says that one of our problems is we are inundated with information.
[00:09:36] There's just so much information that we just have all the time pouring into our lives. But he said, but one of the problems is, is that because we are a secular world, meaning we've kind of rejected our concept of God in order of the universe and these deep structures that are beyond the material world. He says that we don't have any way to sort through into sequence and to place this information. And. And so he says, guess what? It does. It confuses us. And he uses this great analogy that I thought was really good. He said, if you have a deck of card. Deck of cards, and it's in order, and you flip one and you see a two of hearts, and then a three of hearts and a four of hearts, then you kind of know. You look at this deck and you think, I think I kind of know what's coming. Like, oh, yeah, five of hearts, the six of hearts. And then maybe it changes to spades. You're like, okay, that makes sense to me. And you're. You're able to see that there's a structure there, and you're able to bring that information into you. Now, if the deck is random and you flip and you have an ace, and then you have a jack, and then you have a three, and then. And they're all different colors, and they're different symbols on them, and they're out of order. Then everyone that flips, you're like, I don't know what to do with that. I don't know how this all connects together. And that's kind of him making a very simple point that that's us, that we're just being poured in. But we're like, but what is true?
[00:11:07] What can I believe? Who's trustworthy?
[00:11:10] What is actually corresponding to reality? And he says, in our world, we're just becoming more lost because of all this.
[00:11:20] And interestingly enough, this is what Jesus said to us 2,000 years ago. It's not just a technology problem. I think that adds to it, but it is a problem that is inherent within the human soul. But then he says this. He shows us.
[00:11:35] But this lostness helps us to understand something about God.
[00:11:40] And the first thing we see is that God is on a mission, seeking us.
[00:11:47] See, in this story, it represents spiritual reality.
[00:11:50] And the one who is seeking the lost sheep represents God.
[00:11:59] And it's actually meant to represent us, too. That's meant to be an example to us, but it shows us that God is a seeking God. God is not apathetic to us.
[00:12:12] I want you to know today, God cares about you. You might not care about him, but he cares about you.
[00:12:19] In fact, listen, like, think about this story. Remember what it said? There's this really interesting line. It says, when the one was lost, he left the 99 in the open country.
[00:12:31] That seems a little too risky to me.
[00:12:35] Look, you got 99. They're safe. They're good one. Like, if I get a 99% on an assignment, I'm like, great, crushing it. I feel good about it. I can live without that 1%. Anybody.
[00:12:49] But Jesus says God cannot live without that one.
[00:12:55] And in fact, that in some ways, I would say in some ways, he will risk the 99 to get the 1. You're like, that doesn't make sense.
[00:13:03] But what it shows is God's absolute passion to reach us and to bring him home to us. But here's what I'd also say.
[00:13:19] No one cares about the One unless that one is you or unless that one is someone that you love.
[00:13:28] You know, sadly, probably like all of us, I'll get AMBER Alerts that come through on my phone. And, you know, they, like, come out of nowhere. And they're that crazy noise and it startles you. And I'll see it and I'll look at it and. And I'll think, man, that's really sad. There is a lost child.
[00:13:46] And I'll think it's sad. And I'll look at what the details are and I'll try and remember them. So, like, if I'm out driving and I see this type of car, like, whatever information they give, but that's about as far as it goes with me.
[00:14:00] But if that were my kid, I would do everything.
[00:14:06] And I'm not sleeping.
[00:14:08] I'm not stopping.
[00:14:10] Because if that one that is lost is mine, I'm doing everything.
[00:14:17] And I am not stopping until I find them.
[00:14:22] Because they are my one.
[00:14:25] Here's what Jesus is showing us. You are God's one.
[00:14:30] You may not feel like it, but you are.
[00:14:33] You are his one. He's not stopping.
[00:14:38] He's not slowing down until he finds you.
[00:14:42] He is out there searching.
[00:14:45] See, this shows us.
[00:14:47] This shows us something about God's heart. It shows us how much he cares and how much he loves. And then when he finds us, when he finds the sheep, do you know what he does? He chews that sheep out.
[00:15:00] He just.
[00:15:01] What is wrong with you, you nasty little sheep? No. He rejoices.
[00:15:06] He celebrates.
[00:15:08] Now, I love this. I don't know about you, but I had a dog growing up. His name was Bo. He's a black lab, and he was a cool dog, but he wasn't the most obedient dog. And he would love to run away, but he would run away in the most annoying way. He would, like, be out in the yard and. And then you would, like, go up to him to try and get him, and he'd let you get pretty close. And then he would run off. But he would just run off far enough knowing that you still see him and that you can. And then you'd kind of walk up to get him and do the same thing. And we would play this game for, like an hour.
[00:15:45] And as that game went and went, I started thinking, I'm not going to get you anymore.
[00:15:51] I'm going to go in the house, I'm going to find a gun, and I'm gonna shoot. I'm just kidding. Relax, Relax. I'm just kidding. But my compassion would start to wane very quickly because the dude was driving me crazy. And then once I would finally get him, I'd be like, what is wrong with you? Don't ever do that. You know, I'd like, give Him a lecture. He's a dog.
[00:16:13] But I would do my best. I still had to, you know, make my point to him.
[00:16:19] And it didn't really help anything, but I was angry, I was frustrated, I was annoyed.
[00:16:27] And surely you could understand the shepherd feeling that way.
[00:16:31] But he rejoices, man. When you turn to God today, he rejoices.
[00:16:39] He celebrates. And this celebration, he calls his friends together and he does this whole, like, huge party, and you're like, man, that seems really over the top.
[00:16:52] But what he's saying is that that's how. That's the heart of God for us, for you and me, for people who look at their lives and say, you know what? It's hard to admit, but I am lost.
[00:17:03] And God's like, look, you know what brings joy to heaven is when you and I are found. Now, what does this mean for us? Well, just two simple things. Number one, he says there's more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over 99 righteous people. And let me let you in on a little bit seek a little bit of a secret. Jesus is being a bit tongue in cheek here. There aren't 99 righteous people in this whole world that need no repentance.
[00:17:35] They don't actually exist.
[00:17:38] But what Jesus is showing us is that we all need to repent. Now, repent might be a word you're not familiar with, but. But here's what it actually means. It means to change our mind.
[00:17:49] It means to turn.
[00:17:51] It means I'm going this way in life, and now I'm going to do a 180.
[00:17:56] It means I've been doing life without God, now I'm going to do a 180, and I'm going to do life only for God.
[00:18:03] It means I've been doing life rejecting God, and now I'm going to do a life with God as the center of my life.
[00:18:11] It means I'm living life and I'm trying to be a good person and I'm trying to earn my way into God's love. And repenting means no. Now I'm going to recognize God's love can only be received through Jesus and his death and his resurrection. And I'm now going to receive it and live from that place. It means that as I go through life and as I realize I'm living in ways that don't honor God, I'm going to change my mind about them. I say, you know what, Lord, you are right about this, and I want to partner with you. I want to honor you. I want to obey you. All of those kinds of things is what repentance is. And one great author and theologian named Martin Luther, he said this. He said, all of the Christian life is repentance.
[00:19:02] That today, if you're not a Christian, you need to repent.
[00:19:06] If you are a Christian, guess what? You need to repent. That all of our life needs to be a constant turning towards God.
[00:19:14] Why? Because we all get lost.
[00:19:18] We all lose our way and we all lose sight of God and we need to turn. And what Jesus says is every time we turn towards God, we add joy to heaven.
[00:19:30] They're like, they're clapping, they're cheering, they're celebrating. They're like, yes, yes, another turn, another step of growth, another step towards their heavenly Father or a new member of the family has come back home and they rejoice.
[00:19:50] And then second, we all need to repent. But second, we all need to enter into the joy of God.
[00:19:56] You know, the people that you love in life, don't you want them to bring joy to them?
[00:20:02] I think we all do.
[00:20:04] We want to be a presence that enhances their joy, not takes it all out of the room.
[00:20:10] I am that some days. But we want to be the one that brings more joy.
[00:20:15] And this is what Jesus is showing. This is what he is modeling to the people that are listening to this, but also to each and every one of us that we need to celebrate and partner with God on the things that matter to him and that bring him joy. Today we're celebrating baptisms. Why?
[00:20:40] Because they are about this story that I just read. They're about one coming home to God.
[00:20:48] Coming home because God has saved them, because God has come into their lives, because they see Jesus as their Lord and Savior, because they've turned to him and they've committed their life and they've trusted their past and their present and their future. And do you know what we need to do with that? We need to celebrate. We need to say, God, thank you.
[00:21:10] Thank you for doing that, Lord. Thank you that you did it to me. Thank you that you do it for them. And thank you that I know there are so many other people in the short life that I have that I'm going to be part of, of helping come back home to you. I'm going to enter that joy. I'm going to celebrate that. And we can be praying and loving and inviting and sharing God with the people in our lives who don't know Him.
[00:21:38] Now, the shepherd carried the sheep back home.
[00:21:42] I imagine that the sheep got wiggly at points, you know, I imagine that he's carrying them home and he's found, but the sheep might want to jump out of his hands. Might kind of get like. I just imagine that's not easy. And the reason I imagine is because I have a one and a half year old and his name is Teddy and he's a beetler boy, which means that God has made him with extra padding in his body.
[00:22:09] That's the way. See, we're not big bone, you know, we're not a little bit chunky. We're padded. It's a very special thing. See, if you think about it this way, that the things that are really valuable to you, you put in padded boxes. And so what I've come to believe is that my soul is really valuable to God. So he put it in a padded body.
[00:22:32] Can I get an amen on this? Put something in the chat. Come on, people.
[00:22:36] And so we're padded, but that makes us heavier. The extra padding makes us a little bit heavier. And so Teddy, you know, he's an armful. And when I'm carrying him, he does this thing where like, he'll just, like, throw his body back. And you're like, oh. Because you never know when it's coming. And you know, you almost drop him and you don't. But like, he's like, trying to get out. He's pretty. He's really good at it. He gets wiggly. He goes dead fish on me. Like, he just. He can do it and it's tough, but you got to keep him safe.
[00:23:09] Got to keep carrying them. And when you're sharing your faith, it's hard. Sometimes it takes a little bit of endurance.
[00:23:19] We pray for people, but we're like, lord, I prayed once for them. Why has it not worked yet? But Jesus said sometimes you got to pray for days, weeks, months, years, decades.
[00:23:32] But will we keep doing that? Because we know that that is the joy of our heavenly Father and we are going to bring that joy. Wouldn't it be cool one day?
[00:23:45] This might be a weird thought, but I just couldn't help but think about it. Wouldn't it be cool one day to show up to heaven and the angels be like, you know what? I'm kind of bummed that you're here.
[00:23:55] You're like, whoa, like, I'm offended right now. I didn't know I could be offended in heaven.
[00:24:00] But they're like, you know, you just brought us so much joy when you were down there.
[00:24:05] There are so many people, people that you were Helping to know God. Like, I'm kind of bummed that all you people from Christchurch west are up here now because you guys brought us so much joy. That might be a crazy thought. I think it's kind of cool that this is our time, this is our, this is the opportunity that God has given us.
[00:24:28] And let's go after it with, with all of our heart.
[00:24:33] We have important work to do.
[00:24:36] And today I want you to know if you feel lost, turn to your father and you will realize he's right there already.
[00:24:45] Turn to God.
[00:24:47] Invite Jesus Christ into your life.
[00:24:50] And if you know that he is the one that has found you, you know he's the one that has come for you, then would you just commit in your heart to partnering with Him. Would you say, all right, Lord, I get this, I believe it, I've experienced it. And would you just begin to be praying and Lord, how can I be part of your joy in this? Who is it in my life that I need to pray for? I need to invite them to church. I need to share at the right time in the right way about what you've done in my life. Lord, would you give me the courage? Would you give me the wisdom? Would you give me the right opportunities for it? We need to be praying for those things. We need to be thinking about those things. We need to be doing those things.
[00:25:31] And church. Here's what I know. We'll also experience great joy in it too.
[00:25:37] And we will see the blessing of all this that Jesus is talking about. Let's pray. Father, we love you. We are so thankful for you. We pray, Lord, that what you wanted us to receive from these verses would be received in our hearts today. We ask this in Jesus name, amen.
