Week 8: Parables of Search & Rescue The Lost Sheep

Transcription

1 Week 8: Parables of Search & Rescue The Lost Sheep USING THIS SERMON DISCUSSION GUIDE Ø This Sermon Discussion Guide is only a tool to aid you in meeting the needs of your group. For most groups, there are too many questions to answer in one session together. After considering the needs of your group, you may choose one of the following options: s one section of questions s one or two questions from each section Ø Feel free to adapt the format to meet the needs of your group. If your group is mature and wants to dig deeper, add Scripture and ask suitable questions. Remember that this is only a guide. Ø Personal application is key to everyone s growth and should be included in every discussion. When asked how he or she intends to apply a certain principle a group member may say, I need to spend more time in the Bible and in prayer. It is important for you to help group members make applications that are more specific and commit to a specific plan of action by asking, for example, How are you going to begin? An example is to get up 30 minutes earlier each morning, spending 15 minutes reading the Bible and 10 minutes in prayer. Encourage each group member to be accountable to the group for personal progress at the next meeting. Ø As the leader your goal is to help bring the group into a stimulating discussion that helps the members recognize their need for personal life change. Ultimately you want them to be willing to commit to change with accountability to the group. Accountability helps us to persevere in our commitments and achieve the blessings of success. Page 1 of 7

2 INTRODUCTION Have you ever lost something of great worth? We search desperately for such things, even pushing aside any other plans. Our hearts and minds get so focused; our attention gets captivated. In the same way, Jesus, "the friend of sinners," wholeheartedly seeks us out, even when we might not recognize that we are lost. This week, we discuss God's passionate persistence to draw His people into His presence. The 3 parables of Luke 15 all deal with God s priority to seek and save the lost. In these verses, not only do we learn how Jesus pursues the lost but we also feel his heart and see how we, as His Body, are to prioritize the life- style of search and rescue. In this lesson we will examine the parable of the lost sheep. Key Scripture [Luke 15:1-2] 1 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! IN REVIEW: Jesus s association with messed up sinners was becoming a huge issue with the religious community. Page 2 of 7

3 To understand Jewish religious culture we need to realize they lived a lifestyle of separating the clean from the unclean and went to great lengths to separate the Holy from the defiled. So when Jesus came and ate unclean food with unclean people, befriending the worst of sinners, he upset the religious system and created suspicions as to whether or not he could be from God if he lived so close to those who were far from God. Religion continues to ask those questions and call for a separation from the people instead of a separation from the sin and values. [Luke 5:30-32] But the Pharisees and their teachers of religious law complained bitterly to Jesus disciples, Why do you eat and drink with such scum? 31 Jesus answered them, Healthy people don t need a doctor sick people do. 32 I have come to call not those who think they are righteous, but those who know they are sinners and need to repent. [Luke 15:3-7] 3 So Jesus told them this story (parable): 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! Page 3 of 7

4 [Isaiah 53:6] We all, like sheep, have strayed away. We have left God s paths to follow our own. Yet the LORD laid on Him the sins of us all. What Sheep Are: 1. Sheep are defenseless - and so are we against the real attacks of a real enemy! (apart from our shepherd we are toast!) 2. Sheep are directionless [Jeremiah 50:6] My people have been lost sheep. They have lost their way and can t remember how to get back to the sheepfold. [Psalm 119:176] I have wandered away like a lost sheep; come and find me. 3. Sheep are helpless in sustaining themselves 4. Sheep will lead each other into disaster! Page 4 of 7

5 A story ran in the Washington Post telling about shepherds in Gevas, Turkey 2005, who watched in shock as hundreds of their sheep followed each other over a cliff before they could stop them First one sheep wandered away and fell over, more than 400 sheep died in the plunge. There were 1,100 others that followed, but they survived because their- fall was broken by the first ones that went over. [Ezekiel 34:11-12] For this is what the Sovereign LORD says: I myself will search and find my sheep. I will be like a shepherd looking for his scattered flock. I will find my sheep and rescue them from all the places where they were scattered 5 Ways Jesus Rescues the Lost Sheep 1. Jesus prioritizes the one (individual) [Luke 15:4] Won t he leave the ninety- nine others in the wilderness and go to search for the one? 2. Jesus diligently pursues the lost. Go where they ve gone! = time & energy 3. Jesus carries the lost back to a place of safety. (the flock) Page 5 of 7

6 Restoration is a process that requires people carrying people 4. Jesus celebrates the rescue and the return of the lost. [Luke 15:6-7] 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 5. Jesus rescues because He will not forget YOU! [Isaiah 49:15-16] Can a mother forget her nursing child? Can she feel no love for the child she has borne? But even if that were possible, I would not forget you! See, I have written your name on the palms of my hands. Conclusion: The key to joy and restoration is responding to love through repentance! Page 6 of 7

7 Small Group Questions 1. The Bible uses the example of sheep to relate for us the saving and guarding power of our Savior for us His flock. In what ways of everyday life are we vulnerable? 2. If you have experienced a season lacking in direction, how did you find your way back into clarity? What did Jesus speak to you? 3. How has God sustained you in this last season of life (emotionally, spiritually, financially, physically, etc.)? Who did God as use as His hands, His feet, and His voice? 4. What are some biblical examples where Jesus goes after "the one?" what are some personal examples that you've witnessed? (In other words, how has He reached someone at an individual level?) 5. What could it look like for us all, as Christ followers, to be so full of the Holy Spirit, that God radically reached those far from Him? 6. Why is "restoration a process of people carrying people?" What does that commitment look like? 7. What are ways that our small groups, our families, and our church can celebrate the rescue and return of the lost? *SMALL GROUP LEADERS spend some time praying with thanksgiving for those that have been rescued and redeemed. Declare that same thing specifically over some of the people in your spheres. Page 7 of 7