Printer Friendly Version

EMBODYING OUR IDENTITY:
BEYOND THE FORTRESS WALLS

Luke 15:1-7

Introduction

The more I listened to the preacher's sermon that Sunday morning, the more invigorated I became. I thought to myself, "This message is so much what the Church of the 21st century needs to hear. This message is what I need to hear." The pastor was encouraging us to go beyond the status quo as a local church and truly to be the Church in our local community. With great passion, he reminded us that we were planted in that community for a reason--to be the presence of Christ to that community.

Suddenly, I made the mistake. I should not have done it, but I glanced around the sanctuary, particularly at those persons that I knew were the "dynamite" of the local church--those gifted servant-leaders that were making such a difference among us. First my eyes caught that one person that could simply nod his head in agreement, and everyone would go along with the plan. I thought, "If only he can catch the vision, the rest of us will come right along." I guess it was right in the middle of the football playoffs, and the noon hour was upon us. For whatever reason, his mind seemed to be everywhere but into the challenging message of the morning.

I then happened to glance over at the dear "saint" of the church. She was the one to whom we all would go first when we needed special prayer. I began to imagine, "If she could somehow see the vision of the church once again, the remainder of us would soon follow right along." However, several members of her family were with her that morning, and I'm sure that the Sunday dinner was to be removed from the oven soon. Whatever it was, other important things were seeming to silence the message of the morning.
Finally, I happened to glance up front at the row of teenagers. I thought to myself, "Now, there is the real dynamite of the church. Throughout history, the spark has so often been ignited in the young people of the church, and then the rest of us eventually catch the fire as well!" However, something up on that row had caught the attention of the teens, and for whatever reason, the message of the morning just wasn't being caught.
Just when my great enthusiasm for what the preacher had been saying had diminished to not much more than a flicker, the sermon came to an end. The minister had us stand together and close in some hymn like "Onward, Christian Soldiers." Suddenly, all across the sanctuary, we were once again singing with great vigor. To look at us, we truly appeared to be an army, prepared and ready to win the world for the Lord. As we came to the last word of the last verse of the last song of the day, we held out the final note "loud and long!" Then, in perfect step with one another, we placed our hymnals back into the pew rack, and the benediction was given. I couldn't help but ask myself that morning, "Why do we exist as the people of God?" Even more, "What are we ultimately called as the Church to be and to do, particularly when we sing the last word of the last verse of the last song of the morning and our hymnals are placed back in the rack?" "What is our reason for existence?"

Perhaps that question is one of the most significant questions that we as the people of God can be asking today. Certainly, the question is being answered in numerous ways even today by the people of God. It would be interesting if we were to take a few moments this morning to meet in smaller groups to discuss that very question. Some might answer, "We exist for fellowship. We are here to provide each other with encouragement, acceptance, and forgiveness. We exist to support each other along the journey." At the same time, others might respond, "We are here to grow in our understanding of the word of God and His plan for our lives. We exist to become students of the Bible, nurtured by solid teaching and preaching. Our primary purpose is to grow in our understanding of Him." Still others might answer, "We exist in order to provide an alternative community from the world for our children, our teens, and our adults to live in. Through the various programs and ministries of the church, our people can find fulfillment and joy in activities separate from the world and safe from its evils." The list could go on and on, but the issue remains: "What is our purpose?" When the last word of the last verse of the last song is sung even this morning, is our duty done? Is our mission complete? Have we been the people of God until we come together again?

Move One--The Dilemma of the Text

It is this very issue that confronts us today in our biblical text. Why does Jesus exist? What is His purpose? When He and His disciples "sing the last word of the last verse of the last song" of their time together, has He completed His task? Has His mission been carried out?

The debate over this issue is sparked as two groups are presented in the Gospel of Luke. On the one hand is the group described as the sinners and the tax collectors. More than simply persons who are disobedient to the will of God, this group is made up of the very "scum" of society. It is comprised of persons who are willing to compromise their reputations and just in order to survive--persons such as prostitutes and pig herders. It is made up of the unclean, the social and religious rejects, the crowd whose lifestyles stand in absolute contrast to the purity and holiness of the people of God. In fact, the people of God spend much of their time and energy to ensure that such characters are kept on the outside in order that the people of God will not be contaminated.

On the other hand, the second group is described as the scribes and Pharisees. While it would be easy for us quickly to reject this group, we need to appreciate what they stood for--purity and holiness. Indeed, if there were a religious crowd of Jesus' day, this would be that crowd. They were committed to maintaining the purity of God's people. They were committed to standing up for that which was right and holy.

Into the midst of these two crowds, Jesus now begins to associate with the religious and social outcasts. He not only associates with them but eats with them as well. He shares life with them--weeping with them, laughing with them, caring for them. What an absolute absurdity this must appear to be; the very one that some are even beginning to confess to be the Son of God is engaging in life with the very crowd that most starkly contrasts with the holiness and purity of God. Understanding the kingdom of God to be one that keeps the outsiders out and the insiders in, the religious crowd (the scribes and Pharisees) begin to complain about Jesus' approach. The dilemma is now set for Jesus and even more for His Church--both then and now. Why is Jesus here? Has He come to maintain the exclusive club of righteous and holy people, or has He come to open the doors to the very ones that have been rejected and cast out due to their uncleanness and impurity.

Move Two--The Answer in the Text: A God for Outsiders

Into the midst of this dilemma, Jesus tells the familiar parables of the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the lost son. He begins by simply saying, "Which one of you, if you have one hundred sheep and one of them runs away, will you not leave the ninety-nine in the wide opened country and go and search for the lost sheep until you find it? And when you find it, you call your friends and your neighbors together, and you say, 'Rejoice with me! I have found my sheep that was lost'" (Luke 15:4-6, para.).

On the surface, this short story seems to make absolute sense to us as we hear it. We become so accustomed to the grace and love of God that the story of a shepherd who leaves his other sheep in order to find the one lost sheep "just sounds right" to us. However, at the very heart of this short story, the world is absolutely turned upside down. Priorities are completely rearranged. A mission of preservation and maintenance is challenged; a mission of risky compassion is established.

Perhaps it would make more sense to us to hear the parable in a contemporary way. Imagine for a moment that you work on a car lot that is located in an area of town more or less known for robberies and theft. Imagine that you are the only one working on the car lot that day. For whatever reason, all of the cars are unlocked, and the keys are in the ignition. Now imagine that someone came and drove off with one of your cars. Now let's ask the question, "Would you not leave the other ninety-nine cars, with the doors unlocked and the keys in the ignition, in the lot. Would you not drive off to find the stolen car and search until that car were recovered?" In response to that story, any of us with even the smallest amount of business and economic sense would respond, "How absurd! I would simply count the loss but protect what I still have--ninety-nine safe cars." Exactly!

That is the same response that one would make when they hear Jesus say, "Would you not leave the 99 in the wide open country in order to find the one lost sheep?" Why would you leave 99 sheep that are prone to wander off anyway in the wide open country just to find the one lost sheep? Isn't 99 more important than one? It just makes business sense!

And that is the very point of the parable--Jesus did not come to establish a business that would rival Kmart and Wal-Mart. He did not come to build an establishment whose primary concern was, "Did we survive another year?" He came to build a community, a Church, whose rejoicing was not simply in a pewful or even a houseful of "insiders" but whose rejoicing was in one single, lost sheep, one outsider, one prostitute, one tax collector, one pig herder, who was found, healed, forgiven, and brought back home!

Move Three--The Challenge of the Text: Beyond the Fortress Walls

To be people of this alternative kingdom is to have our priorities and values turned upside down. It is to measure success from a totally different perspective than a business up the street or department store downtown might measure success. While they might celebrate over the 99, "kingdom people" celebrate the one. While the people of God have always been a people who gather to exalt and worship the One who has given us life, while we have always been a people who celebrate the community to which we belong through fellowship, and while we have always been a people who pass the torch on to the next generation through education and training, we are marked by this awareness: when the last word of the last verse of the last song is sung, when the bread and cup have been taken, when the Sunday School lesson is completed, when the potluck dinner is over, we have only begun.

Beyond the gathering of Jesus and His disciples lay the very reason He came: to seek, to find, and to restore lost sheep. In the same way, beyond the walls of our worship, our fellowship, and our education is a world of "sinners and tax collectors"--the very crowd often kept outside of the fortress walls we can so easily build.

The Church of Jesus Christ is indeed an extension of the Shepherd's arm--we are the Body of Jesus Christ. In the same way that He came "not for those who need no physician but for the sick," so we have been planted in our community "not for those who need no physician but also for the sick." The challenge we face today as the people of God is the same challenge that the people of God have always faced--to allow God to tear down the fortress walls of exclusivity and to build a community of women and men, teenagers, boys and girls whose eyes are open to the outcast, the hurting family, the lonely single adult, the alienated teenager, the unloved child--a community whose hearts bleed with a compassion for the very ones whose lifestyles are impure and who would never step foot inside the walls of the church.

The Good Shepherd today is calling undershepherds--adults, teens, children--but even more He is calling a "Shepherd Church," us as a people, to share a passion for the very ones for whom He has a passion. He calls us first not to "bigger and better," but to love, compassion, and forgiveness of those who live outside these walls today. We are called not simply to distribute pamphlets that describe to our community who we are; we are called to distribute ourselves into our community--into our neighborhoods, our schools, our workplaces--and be the extension of the Good Shepherd's arm to sheep that are hurt, wandering, and lost. We are called first not to preserve who we are and what we've got but to empty our very lives into the lives of our community. Truly, we have seen in our Lord Jesus Christ that it is truly in emptying that we are filled, in giving that we receive, and in dying that we live. In the same way, we are called as His people to be emptied, to give, to die, in order that our community, our world, may be filled, may receive, and may live. We are called, like the Good Shepherd, not to search for a while and when we have failed or when we face various obstacles to give up and settle for preservation; rather, we are called to search until the lost sheep are found!

Conclusion

In a few moments, we will stand together and we, too, will sing the last word of the last verse of the last song of the morning. We, too, will put our hymnals back into the pew rack. The question we then face is, "Have we carried out our task? Have we been the people of God?"

May our answer be: "No, we have only begun." From our worship, our education, and our fellowship, we now leave the 99 to go out into the wide open country--to go into our schools, our homes, our workplaces, our neighborhoods--and to seek lost sheep, yes to eat with them, until they are found. And when we gather back together, we will rejoice not over the 99 who need no repentance, but with the angels in heaven, we will rejoice over the one sinner who has been found.

Perhaps the place where we should begin today is in the simple prayer that would say, "Lord, lay some soul upon my heart / And love that soul thro' me. / And may I always do my part / To win that soul for Thee." Perhaps as we come to the last word of the last verse of the last song of today, God is calling us to a renewed passion for life beyond the sheepfold--life that is lived Monday through Saturday in a world of hurting and wandering sheep. Perhaps today, the Lord is calling us, as His people, to lay our "day in and day out" lives before Him and to allow Him to rearrange our priorities, even our economic sense of what is of value in His kingdom. The Good Shepherd invites us today to pray that He would indeed transform us into His very image--an image that eats with sinners and tax collectors."