Kingdom Values
Of all the animals in the Bible, if you had to guess which one was mentioned the most, which would you think it is? The lamb, the sheep. About 400 times the Bible talks about a lamb or sheep. Now some of us are more city and suburban people (that would be me) and the only picture we have of a sheep is gluing cotton balls to a piece of construction paper.
The Bible uses this language of a sheep about 400 times. This is God’s way of portraying our relationship with God. Let me tell you a bit about sheep. Are they smart? No… not at all. Are they fierce or tough? Not really… When your kid can’t sleep at night, you tell them to go and do what? Count sheep. Little, harmless, incompetent… sheep.
If a large truck turned over on Eisenhower Parkway right in front of our church and you heard a bunch of animals got loose you would probably lock the doors. Maybe look outside the window but not go out into that mess. But if you heard they were a bunch of sheep you’d be like, “come here little johnny, let’s go pet the sheep.”
A sheep is a pacifist vegetarian. They aren’t a threat to anyone and nobody fears them. They just wonder around and eat, sleep, and expect someone else to take care of them. Sheep were the first hippies! They were pacifists vegetarians who were homeless and just wandered around wanting others to take care of them.
These sheep were very vulnerable as they laid around eating in the open field. They needed a shepherd right? In God’s word a shepherd is mentioned 100 times. In the Bible who is the shepherd? Jesus. Who are the sheep? Us. And if you are offended, good you are paying attention. Some of you might say, “I am very smart!” Well good, for a sheep you are very smart. This is a reminder of the humility required to be in the kingdom. Check out this video on how hopeless and helpless sheep are:
In the Kingdom, we don’t look down on others
Right out of the gate verse 10 challenges us to not despise the sheep. I have been in ministry my entire life, and it is funny to me how much people will look down on others and completely ignore the problems and insecurities they themselves possess. I have watched people mock someone else for their situation and not even realize the same argument could be made for them in theirs. This is a problem! This is anti-kingdom of God, this is wolf behavior in the flock.
Some people use the Bible as binoculars to look at other people through them from a distance. But the Bible should be a mirror, not binoculars. We should constantly being evaluating our own lives in that mirror and becoming like Christ.
Jesus doesn’t look at our situation and brokenness and mock, he looks at our situation and brokenness and becomes our rock. We are at times so busy looking down on others, naval gazing from our self righteous tower that we can’t see the eroding foundation at our own feet. We forget so quickly what God delivered us from and criticize those who are still learning.
Write this down: Jesus isn’t interested in your religious accolades, he is interested in your love and compassion for others. Piety and religious duty pale in comparison to the radical call to love lost sheep and those who are battling for their spiritual lives. Jesus himself quotes Hosea 6:6 in Matthew 9: “For I desire mercy not sacrifice, the acknowledgement of God rather than burnt offerings.”
On another note, God cares about the children and the youth of the next generation specifically. I am entering into a season where at 30 I think that those in their teens and early 20’s are dumb too. I get this prideful attitude towards them and lack compassion at times for their inability to learn and grow. But can we all just collectively remember what we were like at 10? 16? 20? Can we remember that we were all kids once who needed and desired grace and mercy.
And if you are one of those people who are jaded and cynical because you didn’t receive grace when you were a kid so you are going to pay it forward by not giving grace to the kids God has placed in your care, can I challenge you to instead break the generational curse and sow grace and mercy so generations that follow will do the same? Can I challenge you to be the good shepherd to those God has entrusted you to care and love for?
In the Kingdom, God goes after the one
Let me ask you a question: when was the last time you cared deeply about a lost person? I mean grieved. I mean, kept you up at night praying, took your time and energy to invest in, diligently stayed in contact with because you knew God could change that person’s life?
This is the radical call for believers and followers of Jesus. Switch the roles for a second: for the believers in the room, how was your life going without Jesus? Oh man. I would probably be on my 4th marriage, riddled with fear and anxiety, and a broken mess with no hope wondering if I should live anymore.
Are we so comfortable? Have we been walking in the kingdom so long that we have forgotten what it was like out there? Have we forgotten that there are lost people that are desperate? There are people that wake up every day wondering what this is all about. They drag themselves through work, fake their way through their broken marriage, and contemplate dark things like suicide and giving up. Every day.
David Platt: “Consider: if the Father has angelic attendants that He sends out to serve and protect His children, then how much more should we love His children? That is, if God cares enough about His children to command angels to attend to their needs, how can we remain indifferent to our fellow believers? Jesus’ parable of the lost sheep in verses 12–14 drives home a similar point. We are to love one another in light of the Father’s individual pursuit of His children.”
Jesus, your good shepherd, your savior, is deeply concerned about this. And we should too. We need to go after the one. I want to kick off a plus one movement in our church right now. Who is one person that you are willing to commit to pray for, speak with every single week, invite to church, and pursue in bringing into God’s kingdom.
The greatest way you can be a soul winner in your generation is not necessarily knocking on somebody’s door but to invest in somebody that you already know. Be present, be praying, and be persistent.
In the Kingdom, we don’t let others go astray
(John 10:14, 27–30) I am the good shepherd. I know My own sheep, and they know Me.… My sheep hear My voice, I know them, and they follow Me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish—ever! No one will snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all. No one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. The Father and I are one.
Kenneth Barker, “The shepherd—the Father—is concerned for each sheep in his flock and seeks the one who strays. His concern for the one wandering sheep is so great that he rejoices more over its restoration than over the ninety-nine that do not stray. With a God like that, how dare anyone cause even one of these sheep to go astray?”
Hard question time: are we causing others to go astray in their walk with Jesus? Have our attitudes, our arrogance, our navel gazing, our rules and religious attitudes, caused others to go astray from the good shepherd?
Jesus is very serious about this. In verse 14 it says he is not willing that any of the little ones perish. If that is true, what are we doing to keep others from going astray?
One way we can help with this is living by example. I said it last week, some of you are the only Bible that someone will ever read. Are you just as negative as the world that is out there? Do people see you and see the world and wonder what the difference is?
Another way to keep others from going stray is we can get involved in ministry and discipleship. Our kids min, our teenagers, our young adults, are growing. The harvest is plenty! But the workers are few… Are we so self centered that we just come here on Sunday and leave? Are we so secluded to just getting ourselves into heaven that we don’t bother to get involved in helping others come with us?
Denzel Washington: “I’ve never seen a uhaul behind a hearse…” but there is one thing we can bring to heaven: people! Are we meeting with people for coffee and discipling them? Are we serving in ministry here at Parkway or in other ministries to lead others to Christ? Or is all of our time going towards our paycheck? Our 401K, our houses. Our stuff.
And lastly, are we praying and living intentionally to reach them? Do we give people our time? Do we pray and intercede for the lost? Are we bothered by their existence outside of the sheep pen? It should hurt us to our core that lost people are dying and going to hell. It should hurt us enough that we don’t just feel bad but we actively do something to stop it.
Conclusion
The whole sermon can be wrapped up in this: God has values, are yours and his the same? God loves his sheep, and he cares deeply about lost sheep.
Are you looking down on others in the pen? Can we just all sit back and realize that we are all broken people just trying to find our way home? Can we get the courage to say, “me too Pastor, I struggle too. I want to get in the game and limp with others as we find our way home to our Jesus.”
Are you going after the one? Do you even have one person in your life that you are actively trying to reach for Jesus? I mean, actually daily caring for and praying for and working on? This is the heart of our shepherd, it should be the heart of the sheep too.
And are you actively involved with keeping sheep from going astray? In Biblical terms, are your hands busy in the kingdom or busy in the world? What do your hands find themselves doing the most? To be in God’s kingdom means to pull your weight and move the ball forward. It means to look beyond yourself and care more for others than your own things. It means exactly what John the Baptist said in John 3:30 – He must become greater, I must become less. Are you greater today?