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TL;DR:
Jesus’ Parable of the Lost Sheep (Luke 15) highlights God’s deep love for every person who has not yet embraced Him and His urgency in seeking those who are lost. While evangelism in our own communities is vitally important, Jesus commands His Church to search for His “lost sheep” everywhere—even to the ends of the earth.
“Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Doesn’t he leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it?” — Luke 15:4
Commentary: What does Jesus’ Parable of the Lost Sheep in Luke 15 mean for us today?
Lost on the ocean. Lost in the desert. Lost inside a cave. Lost in the mountains. A lost dog. A lost child. Such phrases bring gut-wrenching images to our minds. Jesus used that emotionally charged word “lost” to describe people who have not yet embraced Him as their Savior and Lord.
The book Classic Sermons on World Evangelism includes a message by George Truett that mentions Jesus’ Lost Sheep parable. In the middle of that sermon, “A Quest for Souls,” Pastor Truett turns to the connection between the Lost Sheep parable and world evangelism. To Truett, the longtime pastor of First Baptist Church in Dallas, finding the lost sheep Jesus was talking about requires both a global search and intentional evangelism in our own communities.
Let’s be clear: Evangelism in our own communities is critical to carrying out Jesus’ Great Commission. However, millions of lost sheep today will never be found unless believers faithfully follow Jesus’ instruction to go to the “ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8).
The Lost Sheep parable is one of three stories in Luke 15. The other two are about a lost coin and a lost son. Jesus used all three stories to describe the loss of something precious—something valuable enough to merit an all-out search. In the Lost Sheep parable, Jesus rejects an argument about evangelism that says, “Well, let’s be content with the ninety-nine safe sheep. After all, 99 percent is a really good percentage.”
Christopher Chapman, pastor of a church in Jakarta, Indonesia, says the lesson of the Lost Sheep parable is this:
“God surely cares for the ninety-nine sheep that have access to the green grass of the Gospel . . . but the Lord has made clear to us that He feels a special urgency for the lost sheep that have no access to the Gospel.”
In some areas of the world, openly proclaiming that God has come in Christ Jesus to reconcile the world to Himself is dangerous. People living in those areas can seem beyond the Church’s reach. Indeed, a few decades ago, it was common to refer to places where open evangelism was illegal as “closed countries.” World missions strategists no longer speak of “closed countries.” Perhaps that is because the Church has realized that in His Lost Sheep parable, Jesus was clearly implying, as Australian missions pastor Andrew Chisholm has said, that “unreached does not mean out of reach.”
The message of the Lost Sheep parable, says Chisholm, is that, regardless of the obstacles, Jesus expects His Church to find ways to go to the ends of the earth and seek every lost sheep.
— Howard Culbertson, hculbert@snu.edu
This blog post about a world missions Bible passage is one of more than three dozen articles in the “Heart of God” series published in Engage magazine. That series looks at what the Bible says about world missions.
The parable of God’s pursuing love in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke (Matthew 18:12–14; Luke 15:3–7) is a powerful story that can teach us at least four lessons:
In short, the Parable of the Lost Sheep is about God’s unconditional love, compassion, and mercy. It speaks to the need for us to find and care for people who are spiritually lost. When Jesus tells the parable, He points to the value God places on each person and describes the rejoicing in God’s heart over the repentance of one individual.
L — Loving Shepherd leaves the ninety-nine,
O — Over hills and valleys, His love divine.
S — Seeking the one who has gone astray,
T — Tenderly calling, “Come home today.”
S — Safe in His arms, no more to roam,
H — Heaven rejoices, the lost brought home.
E — Ever forgiving, so patient and true,
E — Each soul is precious—He searches for you.
P — Promise of grace for the one made new.
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