Go After the One

4“What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he loses one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go after the one which is lost until he finds it? 5And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. 6And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost!’ 7I say to you that likewise there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine just persons who need no repentance.

What a great picture of a great shepherd who upon finding out one of his sheep has gone astray he leaves the comfort of being with the ninety-nine and he embraces the challenge of climbing the mountains (that how Matthew puts it) putting himself at risk to go after one. One sheep that has gone astray and can’t make it back to the sheepfold on its own.  You may be thinking what’s the big deal? Right?  It’s just one sheep. That shepherd still has ninety-nine. Why risk it all to go after just one? Does it even make sense that you would leave the ninety-nine to go after one? What if while the shepherd is searching for the “one” that some of the ninety-nine go astray as well?  It just seems too big of a risk to leave so many other sheep in hopes that you find just “one”.  Someone else may say that’s a little irresponsible. That’s not being a good steward over the ninety-nine. Well it’s pretty obvious here that God is the great shepherd and in His heart He says that no one is to be left behind. The great prophet Isaiah said in ch.53 that we like sheep have all gone astray. And while we went astray, He went to the cross! Our great shepherd went to the cross to bring us back into His sheepfold. If one goes astray than He takes it upon Himself to go after him.  When He finds that one lost sheep, He says there is a phenomenal celebration that takes place in Heaven!

People ask me why in the world would you leave the comfort of your house and why leave your family to go to place that is so dangerous? Why risk your life to go to a place that doesn’t embrace you or the message that you believe in and live by? Well it’s really simple, just like you and I they are God’s precious sheep. They are His children and somebody needs to go to the mountains, the villages, the cities, the marketplaces and anywhere else where His children may be roaming, to tell these wonderful people that the greatest shepherd of all is looking for them because He loves them. He doesn’t need anything from them, He is not trying to punish them or take things from them, He’s pursing them with a reckless abandonment of love in His heart for them. That’s why He pursues them 24/7 even though most continue to reject Him, He simply loves them too much. And it’s His amazing love for the lost that allows Him to handle the continuous rejection from all those He is pursuing.
That’s why I have come all the way to Pakistan; I must tell all the lost sheep, all those hiding in the mountains of religion, that the Great Shepherd is looking for them because He loves them.
God risked everything and sent His one and only son to a people He knew were going to reject and despise Him but He did it anyway.  Because He knew that there were lost sheep, they had no shepherd…but Jesus willingly chose to abandon the comfort of Heaven to after the one! If He did it don’t you think we should? Together, by Gods grace we can all go after “one”.  And when we do than you will see, slowly but surely we can change the world in which we live.