Welcome to the Willow Ridge Sermons podcast. This is
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Well, good morning. If you've got
your bibles, and I hope you do, I want to invite you to join us in Luke,
chapter 15. That's where we're going to be this morning. A couple
things we just want to emphasize, parents, for our
kids camp. Early bird registration does end
today, and so please make sure you go and get your
kids, registered for that. But then also, we got our
new set of studies that are starting next week. M heard
wonderful things. Ah, Robert Stevens was able to
share his testimony and share with everybody this
morning our discipleship hour and had multiple people
coming up to me and tell me what a blessing that was. So thank you,
Robert, for being willing to share. But, next week, we're back
into our studies that we offer as a church. We got
some descriptions on those in the cards around.
Would love to have you join us during our discipleship
hour at 09:00 and be a part of that.
Well, it is summertime. It's a little weird,
right? Cause usually I think we're used to schools letting
out, at least here in South Carolina, in the Lexington
area in June, and now everybody's
out in May. And so our summer season is
starting. And with that, I think somebody told me it's hitting
like 92 tons of humidity. So we're gonna
feel the summertime starting today. All right? And
with that, we are starting our new summer series.
We're pausing on our genesis study that we've been
doing for a while, and we're going to start a new one called
the Jesus stories, and we'll explain why we're doing that.
We're doing a little different format as we have
most of our elementary kids in here with us
today. So I want to welcome our 3rd, fourth, and fifth graders.
Right. There's a high standard that I'm holding to
because I know the level of teachers that you guys have,
and I feel a little pressured this morning. I want to be honest with you
as we, as we walk through this, but excited to
have you join us for the entirety of worship
over the course of the summer. And it was wonderful
having our kindergarten, first and second graders with us
through worship and excited to see what they're going to be doing with our
students and with our youth workers as they
invest in them over the course of
this summer. Ah. But as we look at
this. We're going to do something a little bit different. We're
walking through during this summer series, the
parables, and we're calling them, the Jesus
stories because they are on a simple layer of the
stories that Jesus told. Now, going back, I was thinking
about this this morning. I remember as
a family, there was a day that
my dad purchased something,
and I thought, wow, we're
fancy. My
dad bought. I'm, Depending on the age demographic you're
in, I'm either old
enough to remember or young enough
to remember, either how you want to look at it?
I remember when my family got a
color tv. It was
the second heaviest thing in our house.
We had a piano, and then we
had our color tv.
Our color tv. It had all of the
electronics that a tv needed,
set in 500 pounds of wood,
that was not mounted on a wall, that
wasn't even sitting in a home entertainment
center, but set on a
mounted stand on our living room
floor. And it could
turn so that wherever your dad was
sitting, he could see the tv,
and you could not.
It did not come with a remote control.
So my name turned into remote
control, and I would run up to the
box. Right? Y'all are tracking with me now. Some of you generationally, this
hits, and it had that box on top of
it, and it started at channel two.
Why there was no channel one, I don't know. And
click. And my dad would watch. I don't want to watch
that click. I don't want to watch that click. And
that's how we would go through. And I remember that tv,
and I remember that day when I
was in high school that that tv died,
and it was like having to get a government permit to throw it
away anyway, right? not really sure what was in all
that. I tell you that story because that
tv is surrounded by some of my most fond
memories that we had together growing up as a family.
My dad was very busy. He worked very hard.
I was very busy with activities that I had.
My mom was a schoolteacher, and oftentimes had to
stay very late after school. But
on nights when we'd get together at our house on Fox Hill Drive
in north Augusta, and we'd have the opportunity to sit down together as
a family to have a meal,
my dad wanted to watch tv,
and so the tv, the living room, and where we ate
were in the same room, and we would turn that tv on at
530 and on TBS
at 530. Every day, there was a
tv show that came on this little
q and a. Now, all right. I want to see if you can get this
right. What tv show do you think came on
at, TBS, at 530? That my entire family watched
the Andy Griffith show. Right.
We'd watch Andy Griffith show, and my
memories of going back and remembering
the episodes of Andy Griffith. And still to
this day, I love to watch the Andy
Griffith show, but we would sit down at the table together.
We would watch the tv show together. And I think
back in the fondness of those memories of
being gathered around at the table now
in full transparency with how I was as a kid. I know that I've
told you guys this before, but, our table was round,
and so one chair,
the back of it, faced the living
room. And that's typically where my mom sat.
I say that's typically in an ideal
world, that's where my mom sat, unless
I was grounded, which was quite
often. And then I would
sit with my back to the tv
so that I would be reminded that, guess
what? I couldn't watch tv, right? And
so that's where we would find ourselves. But I remember this tv
show. I remember it was wholesome, it was funny.
It crossed, at least during that time, and I still think
today, because my kids love this show generationally, it
crossed age groups. And what was
great, kind of looking back on this now as a dad,
on every single episode, there
was a very simple, powerful
lesson to be learned. Over the
course of the summer, we're going to look at these
stories. The Bible calls them parables, what we refer
to them as, and we're gonna think that these are
just simple, easy
lessons to learn. And if we
do that, there's a bit of truth to this, of what
God does in his teachings,
where he breaks this down so that the
people around him could understand the setting and
the story that he tells. But they're
powerful, powerful
implications of the gospel.
Parable literally means to be cast
alongside. And so Jesus,
as he navigates throughout his life, would
find himself in situations where he
needed to communicate the truth of the gospel.
And what he would do was literally cast
alongside one of these,
stories to tell that would help
illustrate the truth that he was trying to teach.
It's about 35 parables found in the
gospel. And for a season
in life in the ministry of Jesus,
this was largely the way that Jesus
taught.
The theme of the
parables was always carried
with it, gospel implication,
or as I've heard them describe before,
and maybe you have as well. They were
earthly stories with heavenly meanings.
Jesus wanted them to see and
to understand, and for so many people, like we said, these
were simple, but they weren't simple at all. And, in
fact, oftentimes there would be some
confusion about what in the world is
Jesus actually saying? And
he'd pull his disciples, he'd pull those closest with him
to the side, and he'd explain to them
the meanings of these parables.
So, as we have our third through fifth graders in here, we got our
youth in here. We got our adults in here. We're all in here this summer. This is going to
be our journey that we go on, our kindergarten through
second graders. By the way, they're going to be studying the exact same parable
every single morning. And what I want us to wrap our
minds around is the power of the truth of the gospel
and in the revelation, as the Holy Spirit speaks to
us, so that we can grow in knowledge
and love and application
of the gospel in our lives.
All right, so let's read. We're going to the first one, the parable of the lost
sheep, Luke 15, verses one through
seven. It says, now the tax
collectors and sinners were all drawing
near to him, and the pharisees and
scribes grumbled, saying, this man
receives sinners and eats with them.
So he told them this parable, what
man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost
one of them, does not leave the 99 in
the open country. Go after the one that is
lost until he finds it. And when he
has found it, he lays it on his
shoulders, 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. Just so I tell
you, there will be m more joy
in heaven over one
sinner who repents than over
99 righteous persons
who need no repentance.
It's a very interesting parable that we
see. There's some context
that's important for us to know, which
sparks Jesus to tell this
story of
this gathering, this flock of sheep,
and the one that wanders.
So let's look at the people who are here
in this mix of people that we
find in Luke chapter 15.
are this
very gathering of
different groups of people that would have
created during the time of Christ
a, very religious, complex
dynamic and a complex
social dynamic as well.
The Bible tells us that gathered there were
tax collectors. All right, tax collectors.
These are not just people who go to work for the IR's.
The tax collectors were jewish men
hired by the roman government to collect
taxes. And you think, well, that's normal. That's what governments
have to do. But remember, Rome is the
oppressor. And so these
jewish men were betraying their
countrymen in order to partner
and make a living this way. It was
considered dishonest, it was considered
shady, it was considered being a
traitor. And what these tax
collectors would do is they had the percentage
that they would have to collect for Rome. And then they had
what they would determine to be in
themselves, a percentage that they would
collect for themselves. So this is for
Rome. This is for me. And as they
collected that number, there was
equal legal ramifications if you did
not pay that number. So tax collectors
were responsible for all sorts of
punishments that would happen to the jewish people
of that time who would not pay their taxes,
as were determined. Oh, and by the way,
if you ever ask yourself, how did Rome, how did
this empire, which in and of itself seems to
be very small as far as a group of
people who begin to spread out and
conquer much of the known world during that
time, how were they able to do this? Well, they
were able to do this through the taxes they
collected. So what would happen
is imagine being oppressed, feeling almost
imprisoned in your home, and you have to pay
a tax for this. And the tax that you are
paying is going to the tax collector who collects
it, and it's going to the army who oppresses
you. So tax
collectors, in and of not great reputations,
considered traders in many
instances, those who would be
excluded from the normal,
functioning, respected people of
society. And then the Bible says that there
were tax collectors and sinners that had
gathered near to Jesus. So what do they
mean with sinners? Well, if you've been around
church, here's what you know, man. We're all sinners saved by
grace. We're all sinners saved by grace.
I'm, a sinner, you're a sinner, everybody's a sinner. And it's the
grace of God that saves us from our sin.
Oftentimes, though, when we see
sinners like this context listed
in the scripture that we see here in the gospel,
what they're trying to imply in
this moment is that these are a group
of people who don't just simply
commit sins, okay? But they are
people who choose sinful
lifestyles and who are known for that
sinful lifestyle. So their sin
has become to use them or been
used for them, to define them and to
describe them. This isn't your
everyday. I just need to get a few things figured
out, buttoned up. people that the Bible has
said has drawn near or
gathered around
Jesus. But we do find that this is
a typical reaction from these people. That
there is something about Christ, there's
something about his message. There's something
about him that would
cause offense to some. But
would cause others, in their
brokenness, to draw near
him. Then there is another
dynamic of the group that was there. The Bible says that there
were scribes and Pharisees that were
there. Two very similar
groups of people, but very different,
in essence, in some things that they did. The scribes found
in both the Old Testament and the New Testament. And the
description of them would be that they
were educated men.
Who would study scripture,
transcribe scripture. And
oftentimes write commentaries on
scripture. So that people would understand what
the scripture was talking about. In essence, their job
was to know and preserve God's word.
And encourage others to use it. Right. Like,
sounds like a good group of people to have around. You can say
like they were the academic theologians
of the day in the time of Christ.
But however, many of them would have
aligned themselves. With these religious
rulers, the Pharisees of the day, who had
moved from preserving, the
authenticity of God's word. And what God had
communicated. And instead began to build
in man made expectations. For
those who, would follow God. So they were taking what they were
educated in. And then manipulating that
for an uneducated crowd that did not know, that
did not understand. So that they could gain for themselves
some type of personal piety that they were striving
for. And this is what we found with the scribes.
And then we find the Pharisees.
Right. these influential
jewish leaders within the time of
Christ. Mostly came from a middle
class businessman. And leaders in the
synagogue. And in their love.
But misunderstanding of the law,
they added to it. And they are known
throughout scripture as hypocritical, as,
self righteous. And the proud opponents
of Christ. They will be at the
center of most of the conflict. That we
find with the teachings of Christ. And
placed within this group is
Jesus. Not a tax
collector,
not a sinner, not a
scribe, not a Pharisee.
The deity and the fullness
of God and the
humanity of JeSus.
Standing amongst this group of
PeoplE, to see
the peoplE.
And there's a problem that arises. It's a
problem that comes up. Look back at verse two,
says in the Pharisees. And the scribes
grumbled, saying, this man receives
sinners and eats with him.
This man receives sinners and eats with
them. So what's the problem?
What's the problem with this? Why are they
so worried about
Jesus and who he's gathered
with and who he associates himself with and
who is drawn to them. Well, Jesus was
considered a rabbi, and
a rabbi is a member of the clergy
and the religion of Judaism. And
rabbis often function as leaders of
the synagogue to provide instruction
on JEwish traditions And hebrew
scriptures. And so rabbis would preach Sermons,
interpret the Old Testament, perform other
functions similar to what you would see of
what, what I do as a christian pastor. This
is what largely, they would do. Now,
Jesus was never a part of the
official temple leadership, but he
was still considered a rabbi and called
rabbi and responded to that in his day
to day ministries. So they see
this man who others refer to,
who others look at as a teacher of
God's word of the scriptures, and they see this
group of people, of tax collectors and
sinners coming to him. And not only
coming to him, but he's receiving
them. He said, yeah, yeah, yeah,
yeah. You come, you come,
you come. And
their issue is this. These people,
these sinners, these tax collectors,
are not worthy people of
the knowledge and the blessing of God.
And that Jesus, this man of
faith, should not be
someone who welcomes them,
should not be someone to receive
them.
Jesus should
not, because they're
unworthy to be
someone who enters into
relationship with him.
And this is the problem where we
find, and so scripture tells us in
chapter two that they begin to
grumble. This is the question they have.
Nobody stands up. Sometimes they do.
Sometimes they question Jesus.
They directly address him. Sometimes
scriptures say that they grumbled or they talked amongst
themselves. Sometimes they don't even do
that. They begin to think thoughts. And what I
love in these interactions, and we'll see some of these,
is that Jesus either hears
their grumble, which we see,
or he just
knows the
divinity and of God, of who he is.
He knows the condition of their heart.
And so he addresses their
complaint. But he does throw
so through a story.
He does so through this parable.
And Jesus here gives them the
solution. Jesus says, you got a problem
with what I'm doing? You got a
problem with who? Huh? I receive.
Jesus says, well, let me explain to you what's
happening. The parable that Jesus
tells would be a common problem that everyone
there would have known about in a world where
we don't necessarily live in a world where
there's lots of shepherds, right? In
that sense, this would have been a
culture that understands. So Jesus says, there's
this shepherd, and he has 100 sheep,
and one has wandered off.
What would happen during the time these shepherds,
they would have their sheep they would take them around, they would let
them graze, and then they would bring them back into
a field where they would pasture them, where they would keep them
at night. And when the shepherd would be there with all of
the workers who were around at night, they would go,
and they would count every single sheep
so that they could be, so that they could know, did one
wander off? Did multiple wander off of where we need to
go and what we need to do? So Jesus says that there's the
shepherd, and at night, and he
notices, man, I had 100
sheep, and there's one gone.
And what he decides to do is to go
find out where the problem is. And
so the shepherd would leave the 99. And there's
been a lot of debate about this. Does the
shepherd not care about the 99? And I just want to say
this. No, the shepherd cares about the 99.
But see, the 99 are being cared for.
The 99 have been pastured. The
99 have been. But there's
one. There's
one. And so the shepherd
says, I'm gonna go. It's not that I don't
care about this group, but I'm gonna go out, and I want
to find this, and I want to be willing to find this
sheep. Sheep
could be hurt. The sheep who could be
dehydrated, the sheep who needed
to be taken care of. And when he
finds the sheep, the
shepherd picks the sheep up
and carries the sheep back. You
see, this sheep, for this shepherd
represents something. You see, these
sheep are the reason that the
shepherd is in the field. You
see, for the shepherd, the sheep
have value.
A shepherd would be willing to
fight for his sheep.
A shepherd would be willing to lay down
his life for the sheep. The shepherd
are willing to go find a lost,
wandering sheep, because that's
who the shepherd is.
The shepherd is the one
that is responsible for and
cares for the sheep.
God as our shepherd
is an illustration and is a picture that's
common in scripture. Jesus in the
New Testament is referred to as the good
shepherd. Many times in the Old
Testament, God is referred to as our
shepherd. 23rd psalm being one of the
most common ones that we think of.
The Bible both refers to the
Israelites as sheep and
all those who come to faith in
Christ as sheep. And
in our world, sometimes
being called sheep
is not positive. But in the
time of Christ, in the context of
scripture, it is a beautiful image
about our relationship with our
creator, with our savior,
with our messiah, with our God.
He is the good shepherd,
and we follow him.
He protects us.
We go after
him as he has found us
as he has rescued us, as
he has given his life for
us. We are the
sheep that follow him.
But, the climax
of this story
is not just that the
sheep has been found. The
climax of the story that Jesus
tells. Doesn't end
out in a pasture.
Where he is grateful and
excited that this sheep that
he loves has now been gathered.
But it ends in a party.
Look at verse six.
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.
Why does everyone rejoice
when the sheep was found?
They gather with him. They
celebrate. You see, they don't
look at the sheep
as a problem. They
don't look at their tendency to
wander too much and say, well, they get what
they deserve.
They don't look at the
sheep that wanders
and say, you know what?
That's just what, sheep like that do.
They don't say, you know what? It doesn't matter.
I've got enough sheep back
here. They say, no,
there's value in that one
that's gone. And so the
shepherd
sees what's his.
He goes and gets. And they
celebrate. Verse seven.
Jesus says, just so, I
tell you. There will be
more joy in heaven.
Over one sinner who repents.
Than over 99 righteous
persons who need no
repentance.
Remember? Let's go back.
What is the problem
that Jesus is addressing?
Why does Jesus
allow fellowship with
these types of people?
Why does Jesus
receive people
like this?
Who says that? It's the
Pharisees and the scribes. Let me ask you
this question.
Who is worthy
to have fellowship with God?
Who's worthy? I
think my answer may surprise you.
You see, the Pharisees and the scribes,
they thought that they were worthy.
They thought they deserved fellowship with God.
Look what they had done. Look what they had
accomplished. Look what they had achieved.
Look how obedient they are. Look at what they've
done. Look at what they made themselves into.
Look at their good religious
understanding, especially compared to
all those others. And their
fellowship with God was
found in themselves of
what they've made themselves to be.
But then, but
then there are
those, Jesus says,
who repent. Who
repent. And in
their repentance, here's what they
understand. They understand who
they are. They're a
lost sheep
wandering in a field,
certain to die in a
situation that they've gotten themselves
into because of what they've
chosen.
They understand that that's who they are.
But they understand that there
was a shepherd who came and got
him. They understand that there
was a shepherd who said, no, that's my
sheep. And that in their
response, they know who
they are. They know
who he is. And their
response is, Jesus,
I'm not worthy. Jesus, I'm
not worthy. I
repent of who I am.
I repent of who I've done. Of
what I've done. I repent
of who I've become. That in all
of me. Consumed with
sin. And Jesus, through his work
on the cross and the power of the
resurrection, forgives
them, saves them,
puts them on his shoulders and
carries them back. And we
celebrate. And we
celebrate because of the
work that he has
done.
I wish I could tell you.
I wish I could tell you that
I haven't thought the thought
that some of these Pharisees carried.
I wish I could stand up here. But it
would be in lies and self righteousness.
And say that those thoughts have never crossed my mind.
But it's the beauty of what God brings us to.
So I want to ask you this. How do
you come to Jesus? How do you come to
Jesus? Is it through your
works and through who you are? Or is it
through who he is?
And when it's found in who he is,
our worth is in him, and we
can come to him. But then
also, how do you see others?
How do you see others? Do we see
others in categories?
Those who don't deserve and those who do?
Or do we see the mission field that
God, has for us. And the call
that God has placed on our lives.
To spread the message of the shepherd
to pharisees, to scribes, to
tax collectors and sinners just like you and
me. Would you pray with me,
God? I come to you this morning, Lord, and just
in the goodness and grace, Lord, of who you are,
of understanding
of your heart. To
see men and
women come into relationship with
you. To
see men, women and children.
To repent before you.
To understand that it is not through their work, through
their ability, through their righteousness,
Lord, that relationship is
found, but is found in
who you are. And in what you've done.
God. And I thank you.
I thank you for your work that you did in my
life.
Where you captured the heart
of this sinful rebel.
And turned him into
a child of the living God.
God, I pray if there's anyone here this
morning.
And, Lord, they're standing as
found in anything else
other than in their relationship with Christ,
Lord. That they would know that
it is insufficient for
salvation.
God help us.
We live in a world
consumed with
lostness. Hey, God. It
is easy. It is easy
to look and to have the heart of a
pharisee, to have the heart of a
scribe and think, no, no, no, Lord, not them,
not them, not them.
Instead of yes,
Lord, how was
them?
Lord, help us see
people the way that you see
them. Have us
share with them the message
of the gospel
and Lord, too, may we
celebrate.
May there be sounds
of great joy.
May there be hearts of
great joy in
one, one of one
sinner who repents. God, I
thank you that we are all
unworthy, that we are made
worthy by the blood of the lamb
found in you and in you
alone. It's in Jesus name we
pray.
Thanks again for listening and be sure to check back next
week for another episode. In the meantime, you
can visit us@willowridgechurch.org or by
searching for Willow Ridge Church on, Facebook, Instagram and
Twitter.