Matthew 18:12-14….Ready

Matthew 18:12-14….Ready

18:12 “What do you think? If a man owns a hundred sheep, and one of them wanders away, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills (Not that God doesn’t care, but left them in good hands, or corrals them there.) and go to look for the one that wandered off? (God isn’t like, well I’ll simply cut my losses and rejoice and be thankful for the 99 I still have. You know you no big lose loss. You lose some but you still majority left, )  13 And if he finds it,  I tell you the truth, he is happier about that one sheep than about the ninety-nine that did not wander off. (Not that God doesn’t care about the 99. But nothing makes God happier than one who repents of their sins and comes to Him for Forgiveness.-(New) 14 In the same way your Father in heaven is not willing that any of these little ones (For Complete Expository See Book)

Extended Sermons

“Displays the great distances & lengths God go’s in pursuing those who are lost and strayed away from Him.” → Ladies have you ever lost a piece of jewelry and you went into a panic, looking all over for it, even though there were hundreds of pieces in your jewelry box. And when you finally found it you’re full of joy and relief. Or how about when you lose a child and you go into panic searching all over for them, you leave the other children at home, not because you don’t love them every bit as much. But it’s because your entire focus is on the one that is lost. And when you find them there’s a wave of mixed emptions, there’s great joy and relief. I’m sure every parent has experienced that at least once in their lifetime. Then you probably understand something of how precious we are to God. And the great concern and joy He takes when after wondering away we come home to Him. I don’t know what your story is. I don’t know if you have run away from God. If you’ve neglected Him and just quit going to church, or just feel that you’ve been ignored, overlooked, and abandoned by Him. But know this there is no distance that you have veered off the path that God can’t bring you back. Maybe you think you’ve created some big sin that  God can’t forgive. Or you think I committed the same sin so many times, over again and over again, that I’ve gone beyond the bounds of God’s forgiveness, that there’s no hope for me, He’s done with me. If you think that, than you don’t know the scriptures or the heart of God. Because your never beyond the scope of God’s love and forgiveness no matter what you’ve done or how far you’ve strayed. No matter where we find yourself. No matter how dark and difficult it feels, God is still perusing us in the hardest and most difficult moments.

“Teaches safety in numbers. When your with other believers your less likely to wonder and go stray.”  → There’s Safety in accountability, The Bible never said, “There is safety in following your own counsel,” it says, “There is safety in a multitude of counselors.” Belonging to a local church—a community of believers who have all placed our faith in the truth of God’s Word—is something God has designed us for, to pull each other safely away from the undertow of our own pride, our own pursuits, our own innate desire to be unaccountable to anybody but me, myself and I.

“Even today, will you speak up when you see a Christian brother or sister who’s gone astray. Or are you going to sit there and keep your mouth shut. “I don’t want to seen as meddling. I don’t want to come off as judgmental. I don’t want to appear self-righteous. I don’t want to look hypocritical.” → Or I don’t want to be confrontational. Are you watchful over your Brother or Sister or do you look the other way. It might be natural to think, “Well, forget them! I have no responsibility to that person. What do I have to do with correcting what they did? “Am I may brothers keeper.” Jesus says, “Yes! You are.  Or do you brush it off as no big deal, that there’s a lot of worse sins and sinners out than that. Do you care when they’re not present in church? Do you care about how much time they’re spending with the wrong people. Do you care when they’re living in a way that does not line up with God’s Word. Are you indifferent and dismissive of someone who is straying. “I can’t get involved”, “I can’t make that kind of investment.” “It’s not my place to judge”. “I don’t want to contribute in doing more harm.” Or “I don’t want to lose their approval.” Or you think “It’s just that one person, and we all know how they are. And beside they’re making their own choices. Let them live in what they choose. It’s good that you don’t want to be someone who gets in their way. But you do want to be someone who helps them stay in the way. True compassion is not about meddling or passing judgment—it’s about stepping into the gap with humility and courage, offering guidance not from a place of superiority but from shared identity. Even if you have imperfections, your willingness to care can be a beacon of hope for someone wandering in darkness.

More Notes & Applications

Teaches how no one is to be considered expendable. There’s not acceptable losses. There’s no “Oh well you win some and you lose some.”

Displays safety in numbers. When your with other believers your less likely to wonder and go stray.

Displays how even the weakest believer is as dear to God as the strongest believer.

Displays how our value to God is not in what we do or don’t do, but in the Saving grace of His Son Jesus and His work on the cross.

Teaches how every Saved and recovered sinner is cause for celebration.

Jesus doesn’t tell us why the sheep wandered off, it just did. Sheep’s are dumb and directionless, and are prone to wandering off. Even if you give them everything they could possibly want, sooner or later they’ll just wander off on their own. Sheep’s sometimes, are so busy grazing that they don’t realize their flock has moved. A sheep can panic and flee from perceived danger. Sheep’s are not great survivors, proud hunters, or fierce predators. Sheep’s can easily wander away and get lost if not attended to. A sheep’s natural curiosity can lead it to explore interesting sights or smells, temporarily taking it away from the safety of the flock and the watchful eye of the shepherd. Sheep’s purchased from outside vendors may have learned bad wandering habits at a young age Sometimes other sheep in the flock are cruel and drive the sheep away. If a lamb gets rejected by its mother or the flock, it’s called a bummer lamb. Without acceptance, the lamb will die. It will literally grieve itself to death if the shepherd does not intervene. Just like sheep we’re the same way.  We need love and acceptance; if we don’t find it at church, we will find it elsewhere. We like sheep have no sense of direction and will follow whoever is leading us. Like sheep we are helpless and defenseless and need God’s care and protection. Like sheep we can go astray. Like sheep we can fall prey to the wolves of lust, greed, addiction, anger, apathy, etc. Just like sheep, we get anxious and distressed and need the Lord’s voice to keep us calm in times of trouble. Like sheep we need to stick together with fellow Christians. Like sheep we were never meant to carry heavy burdens

Leaving sheep on the hills alone to look for one that stayed off was not uncommon. Especially if there were other shepherds around. In that agrarian culture hills provided grazing areas for sheep. Hills offered natural defenses against predators and allowed shepherds a better view of the surrounding areas to spot potential threats.

This parable is maybe just familiar enough for many of us that we kind of lose it’s shock value. The shepherd in this parable has 100 sheep, and maybe that doesn’t sound all that impressive to us today. But by first century standards this was a massive flock. This shepherd would have been incredibly wealthy to have a hundred sheep. But that doesn’t have him thinking, well you know what then, I can afford to lose a sheep here and a sheep there. I mean it’s not a big deal. In our own human way of thinking, we might say, you know we still got 99 others. But to this shepherd just losing one was so precious to him. Not because he’s a penny pinching business owner, but because he cares for each one of his sheep. Each one of them is valuable to him.

Good Shepherds will lead, guide, and protect their sheep at any costs. They will confront any danger. Cost, or sacrifice to protect their flock.  The “Good Shepherd” concept is also used as a model for leadership, particularly in religious and community settings, emphasizing qualities like nourishing, caring, protecting, and sacrificing. Going outside normal boundaries.

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