The Lost Sheep

"Tax collectors and other notorious sinners often came to listen to Jesus teach. 2 This made the Pharisees and teachers of religious law complain that he was associating with such sinful people—even eating with them!

3 So Jesus told them this story: 4 “If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them gets lost, what will he do? Won’t he leave the ninety-nine others in the wilderness and go to search for the one that is lost until he finds it? 5 And when he has found it, he will joyfully carry it home on his shoulders. 6 When he arrives, he will call together his friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me because I have found my lost sheep.’ 7 In the same way, there is more joy in heaven over one lost sinner who repents and returns to God than over ninety-nine others who are righteous and haven’t strayed away!" Luke 15:1-7

When I read this passage I think about our friends and who we hang out with in general. I think as Christians we tend to get caught up in the "Christianity" of people. Our child comes home from school talking about a new friend, and we ask if that person is a Christian- to determine if they are worthy of our child's friendship. Or when was the last time you invited a neighbor or unsaved co-worker to dinner? We tend to stay in our Christian circles, and break bread with our brothers and sisters in Christ. This is not a bad thing- and I'm certainly not saying it is on any level. But how can we reach the lost sheep if we don't leave our circle. How can we be a witness to our unsaved community if we are not a part of it?

The work of the Kingdom involves spending time outside of it. In the Bible we read of the Pharisees, who spent so much time being worried about "contamination" that they stuck to their own little cloistered group. Then Jesus came along and chose to go where the sinners are. He ate and drank with them, and listened to their sad stories and prayed for them and with them. He is the perfect example for us. We need to be like Jesus and go out among the lost sheep and do what we can to bring them into the fold. We can't do that if we hide in our homes and in our fellowship communities. "Go ye into all the world..."