Welcome And Parable Setup

SPEAKER_00 0:02

Welcome to the Boundless Bible. My name is David Shapiro. Hey, I'm Javi Marquez. And I'm Jason Holloway. Hey guys, welcome back. Today I'd like to go over another parable. We did a parable last week, and I'd like to do another one. This one, the same as last week, there's just something that I didn't quite understand about it. I kind of took it for face value. This is the parable of the lost sheep. I took it as I think everyone does, which is hey, there's one sheep. God went after the one sheep. He goes after the one that doesn't accept him, love him, however you want to put that. But that's kind of the end of the story. And man, does it go deeper than that? So I'm ready to jump in. This comes from Luke 15, 3 to 7, or Matthew 18 to 14. Okay. Uh if you're if you have your Bible and you want to kind of track along with us, this is the parable of the lost sheep.

SPEAKER_01 0:52

I love it.

SPEAKER_02 0:53

I love it. Lost sheep is is it's really sentimental for me because it's one of the things that really ties me in or really holds down when I think about my faith and how I came to it. It's you know the forgiveness that God has for me in my life. And I feel like I was lost for a while, for a good while, and God just finding me and just embracing me, even though I was lost for so long, how He did. And plus, one of my favorite worship songs is Reckus Love, which is referencing a lot of that lost sheep.

SPEAKER_03 1:26

So yeah, I mean, I think I'm really interested to find out where where you want to go with this today, because on on first glance, it looks like a pretty clear story. Right. You know, there's there's the 99 sheep and one of them goes astray, or maybe there's a hundred sheep and one goes astray, and he leaves the 99 to go to the one. And that's really beautiful to think that you know you matter in a crowd of people like that to God so much that he'll go that he'll go after you. But you you have the look on your face like you have a whole lot more than that. And and I want to I want to dig in, I want to dig into that.

Ezekiel 34 Behind The Parable

SPEAKER_00 1:54

I I what I love is there's so many brilliant scholars that take uh all of these wonderful Old Testament stories and point forward to Jesus, and you can do it with every story. So I love that they do that. I actually always go in reverse and I pull the New Testament stories and see where they came from in the Old Testament because a lot of times when Jesus is talking, he's actually referencing something from the Old Testament. The people back then would have known it, right? And the parable of the lost sheep is one of them. This actually comes from Ezekiel 34, and in Ezekiel 34, God is condemning Israel, he's condemning their shepherds, the leaders, he's he's condemning them for feeding themselves and not taking care of their flock. Interesting. So he is actually very angry at them, and in Jewish expectation, God himself will actually care for the scattered sheep because the people weren't. So this is now a pushback of Jesus putting himself in the place of Yahweh, saying, I'm going to feed these lost sheep because you're not doing what you're supposed to be doing. Um, so just starting that off is it's still a beautiful story of how God goes after the one, but looking at how Jesus always brings in the Old Testament. This is something he highly revered and he loves God's word, which is his word, but he loves the father's word, and he's going back to it and saying, Hey, in Ezekiel, you weren't doing what you're supposed to be doing, you're still not. So I'm going to go after that scattered sheep. And like I said, from right from the beginning, God is stepping into that role, and it's it magnifies the beauty of the story tenfold for me.

SPEAKER_01 3:38

Yeah, that's great. I think um, you know, I love how that you're you're right.

SPEAKER_02 3:43

You wanted to go back to what you said about you know, a lot of these parables, he's relating to the people and what they know then and now, right? Like for us is it's hard. You know, we live in a in a city. I'm not really shepherding or or pushing sheep around and stuff like that, you know. But to to go back and get the context of what's happening there uh of that time and what it means to them, I think Jesus is obviously very very wise and uses the common language, the common context, like we talked about before in the other parable, agriculture, you know, and that time and stuff. So I think it's beautiful. And then the the great thing about this, David, what your what you brought up is Jesus always has like an underlining old testament line that he's referencing towards, and they would understand that, which is you know, for for Bible scholars, they they would know, but like for me as I'm researching what you're saying there now, is like, wow, that just gives me another layer, another depth of what's going on here.

SPEAKER_03 4:43

Yeah, I agree. I mean, I think it's what the interesting part is always how much we don't see because we're not from that time. So it takes a deeper dive, it takes a deeper understanding of that context to really get the gist of what he's saying. And also, I I would also say that's what makes the Bible so incredible, right? Like it it can both tell a super deep story to those who were there and involved and contextual at the time, and also still mean something to people if you're lacking the context. So it's it's multi-layered. I mean, it's it's why we called this the boundless Bible, right? Like every time you look at something, there's a layer below a layer, above a layer, below a layer, around a layer, and in you know, and encompassing another layer. I mean, it's it's just there's there's so much to every story, and the parables are are no different.

“Lost” Means Perishing

unknown 5:26

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 5:27

And Javi, you mentioned language, even the word lost, we think of it because we live in modern day and we're going, okay, somebody gets lost, you lose your keys, you're you're you have to find it. The word that he used is Apollolos, which actually means destroyed or ruined or perishing. So it's more than just I can't find my way. It is literally I am being I'm perishing or I'm being ruined, and God is finding me through that. So the parable of the lost sheep, again, having now another layer of language on top of culture just makes this story so much more intense.

unknown 6:02

Wow.

SPEAKER_03 6:03

I mean, that's that's a huge, that's a huge opening, right? Like it's not people who are lost in the sense of physically, it's spiritually, right? And so even even though the sheep oh, I just had a weird thought. Like, you know, look, sometimes people are in the church and they're still lost. And so the story isn't necessarily just about the people who aren't attending church, this is about the people who are attending church but not getting the message, whose lives are not being affected by the gospel, whose whose lives continue to be what they are before knowing it, or even or maybe they've been in church the whole their whole lives and they've just never seen the true transformation that comes from it. And so you can be a lost sheep without ever being lost.

SPEAKER_02 6:44

That's good.

SPEAKER_03 6:44

You know what's funny about that that you brought that up?

SPEAKER_02 6:47

It's the so this parable is found the lost sheep in Matthew, I mean, Matthew 18 and 10, and then Luke 15, 3 to 7, and stuff like that, right? So Matthew, I mean Luke 15 and Matthew 18. He uses that the same parable for different audiences. So when you look at it, Luke 15, he's talking to unbelievers. He's talking about the unbelievers that don't believe, right? And then in Matthew 18, he's talking to believers, like what you're saying right now, when you're referencing a good that's a really good reference. Yeah, it's it's it's it goes deeper, and but I that's one of the things that I I've noticed there was a difference there as you you know you compare these and you go, what how different it is, or who he's speaking to, and it's he's referencing that in that way. So if you look into it, you'll see that he's speaking more to believers in Matthew 18 and speaking to more about unbelievers in Luke 15, as far as we're using the same parable.

SPEAKER_00 7:43

Yeah. In in Ezekiel 34, which is what I referenced earlier that I went through. If you want to go even further back, this is a repeat story of Adam and Eve. This is a story of, as you pointed out, Jason, these are people who were dwelling with God who then went and hid from him. And his thing was, where are you? He is seeking for the lost sheep. This is a repeat of the very first story of humanity, and it has continued since, of whether I feel like I am in relationship with God because proximity, I'm there, whether I'm far from God, it's always where are you? I'm seeking you out. So this story repeats over and over and over two different populations.

God Keeps Seeking Us

SPEAKER_03 8:27

Oh man, he just made me think too hard. My brain is hot. You know, I love this idea that God is always seeking you out. And I think that's the like what a what a huge statement, right? Like God is always seeking you out. And and Proverbs actually has something, you know, it's like we talks about wisdom, right? And the wisdom is standing on the street corner calling out for you to come to it, but we are we we don't listen. We we are not accepting the the call that wisdom is making to us. And this is the same thing, I mean Jesus calls to us, God calls to us, he's always seeking us out. And I don't know, I don't even know what that means exactly, other than to say that you know, I think if you open your ears a bit, you hear the call. And so there's sometimes we have to be open to hear that call. And the call, and like I said from the beginning, the call isn't necessarily come to Jesus, it's come closer to Jesus. Yeah, it's it's you're you're you might be on inside the pen, you know, meaning the the you know, where the where the flocker kept, but that one over there keeps running to the other corner where he's away from everybody else. And I want you over here with us. And so you can be you can be in the church, but not close enough to Jesus. And as well as being away from Jesus entirely. And so it's it's just a beautiful thought that he's always always always seeking you out no matter where you are in your journey. And truth be told, we can never be close enough, right? No matter where you're at in your walk, you can never be so close to Jesus that he's not calling you closer.

SPEAKER_00 9:53

What's cool is the the the sheep can't rescue itself, so it is God coming towards the sheep to rescue it. Yeah, exactly. It leaves the 99. Yeah, not to say that the 99 don't matter, it's the 99 are altogether safe, doing what they need to be doing. They typically will stay together in a group, so he is gonna go after the one while the 99 are safe. It really is just a beautiful. I listen, I know there was no way I was gonna rescue myself. I mean, Jason, you and I have talked about it, Javi. We've mentioned it before. My brain would not have allowed me to rescue myself. So it it God had to leave the 99 to come after me. Yeah, and and that's what happens in a story. It's beautiful.

SPEAKER_03 10:35

Well, there's also have you ever seen that that funny meme where the the guy takes the the lamb, it got itself stuck in a ditch, yeah, and he pulls the lamb out of the ditch and it immediately jumps back right into the ditch. Yeah. And I'm like, man, by the way, it's the funniest, it's the funniest meme, but that's that's us too. Like he's gotta keep come seeking us out because the minute he seeks us out, we're like, thank you, punk, right back in the right back in the junk. And you know, he's gotta he's some people I think he has to keep a little tighter grip on than others. Uh, and I'm I'm one of those for sure. I mean, how many times have I been in and then out and in and out within the same 40 minute span of time? So I I love that he's always seeking me out because I'm not necessarily smart enough to stay with the group. But yeah, I mean it's it's it's just such a phenomenal story. I think there's such there's such hope in that story as well, is that we don't you know what I hadn't thought of.

Carried Back On His Shoulders

SPEAKER_00 11:25

I'm not sure if he will be back again. We're having some technical issues, but it really is just an amazing story of how God chooses to come after us constantly over and over again. Um and and actually going to the the next part of the story, which he's back for, so he this is perfect because I'm starting the next part of the story, and that way you can you can hear this. What God does at that point, it's it's not as if God finds the sheep and goes, Great, I found you, come on with me. He lays the sheep on his shoulders. And this is again comes from Jewish culture where if you had a sick or injured sheep, the the shepherd would put it on his shoulders and carry it back. This is a show of loving of I know you're not feeling well. I'm going to help you carry you to where you can feel better. And again, this is that imagery that he shows. It's purpose, it's on purpose. The the shepherd carries the sheep on his shoulders. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 12:22

Which is like I'm glad you said that is that's common, right? That how they carry that the animals like that. It could look kind of like like it's strapped or it's like torture or some kind of way, but it's no, it's it's that's that's how they do it. And I think there's there's a there's a carrying part of it. There's a carrying part, like you said, you know, there's a comfort behind that. And I think that's the word that that really comforts me when I hear that and I read that. It's the comforting part of God is carrying me on his shoulder, and he's like loving me and bringing me to salvation, bringing me into heaven, and and people are rejoicing, like you know, at towards the end of the parable, but like the heavens are rejoicing. And there's a beautiful, there's a beautiful thing in that. And we celebrate that whenever someone comes to Christ, right? And saying that, you know, accepts Christ and surrenders their life to Christ, that heaven is rejoicing, you know, like you're not doing this on your own. You are you you came forward on your own, and with with Jesus, of course, guiding you, but we are all coming together and rejoicing with you. We are all united again as the hundred when we when we receive that one.

SPEAKER_03 13:27

Yeah. I kind of goes to what I was gonna say as well, as I was getting so rudely cut off. Internet, thank you, was that look, we can't do this ourselves. I mean, that's the thing. At the end of the day, you know, Jesus has to come after us because we're not gonna do it ourselves. And sometimes he's got to throw you over his shoulder and you know, not unwillingly, but understanding that we just can't walk that distance back on our own. Like we, there's a reason we keep pulling pulled away, and it's and it's because we're we're sheep and he he needs to pick us up and and bring us over because we just can't cover the distance ourselves sometimes. And that's the other thing that's very, I don't know, it's heartening. It makes me feel very, very comfortable comforted that I don't have to make the steps back myself because as long as I'm trusting in Jesus whose shoulders I'm on, he's gonna make the he's gonna make the steps for me. I just need to not buck and jump and try to get off his back because he's got me. And and I should trust that he's gonna take me back to the right place. And it's important he's not gonna, he's not gonna put me over his shoulders and take me to the slaughterhouse, right? He's yeah, he's gonna put me over his shoulders and he's gonna walk me to, and he's gonna walk me to to the other sheep again. And I think that's look, as I'm sitting here thinking of it, like the the metaphor is really, really strong. Jesus is not going to put you on his shoulders and lead you to harm. When you allow Jesus to take you over his shoulders and you trust in him to take you to the right place, he will take you to the right place. Yeah. And wow, what a what an image that was.

SPEAKER_02 14:57

That wouldn't for some reason hit home right now. It matters a lot because I feel like in Luke 15, you see back-to-back parables about one being lost and how when coming back to it, it we there's rejoicing. There's not condemnation, right? There's not judgment, there is super rejoicing, right? The the the the parable in 15 is is the the great one, which is the the the power, what is it? The is that the coins? No, the coin, but also the the son, the prodigal son. Oh the prodigal son. Right. There's there's that that's happening, right? And there's rejoicing. There's there's excitement when that when we receive that back. And I think what what he's trying to say there is you matter, you matter to God's and cause God's kingdom, you matter as his child, you know.

Teshuva And God’s Rejoicing

SPEAKER_01 15:40

So I think that's beautiful.

SPEAKER_00 15:42

There's there's two things that I'm gonna say. One, I'll I'll say one thing and then and then we can talk about it in the near one, which is this parable is actually, if you really read it and you read the other parables afterwards and you read about the celebration, it has more to do with repentance than just saving. Yeah, so it is Teshuva, it is the return to God. Um, so it was he was part of the flock and walked away and then came back, and that's really important as well because what we're called to do is when we mess up, when Adam and Eve messed up, again, that that throwback to that story, they hid and God's like, Where are you? Come back to me, return to me. That's Teshuva, what it truly means to repent is to make an about face and return to me. And then the celebration. Listen, we think of God as the judge. Hey, this is God the Father, the judge, yeah, but this is God the Father who's rejoicing. This is God the Father who is celebrating. It reminds me of when David is dancing in front of him, or dancing like crazy with and and it was unheard of because he did not dance. Yeah, so to watch him dance would have been strange to anybody else. And and Saul's daughter actually thought he was, you know, crazy and crazy, was disgusted by it. Yeah, and I'm going, God, the God who loves us that much is dancing in heaven at our Teshuva, at our repentance, and return to him. So that's the per the first statement of it, which which I love. Amen.

SPEAKER_03 17:12

I think that's exactly what Javi was saying, right? Like you come, you come back to the flock and there's rejoicing, and there is no condemnation, there is no judgment. And I think that's, you know, it's it's one of the things that we struggle with, I think, internally. Whether whether we're outside the faith, whether we're inside the faith and getting closer, we're always afraid that there's going to be judgment, you know, and and you know, why were you doing that? And why did you fall to that? And why did you fail in that? And and God's not doing that. He's just so happy that you're back. He's just so happy that you have committed yourself to be closer, that you have accepted the help that he's given you. You've accepted the shoulders he's offered to you, and you've and you've allowed yourself to come back and be part of this flock. And and I mean, what a what a gift that is to be able to do that. Yeah, and that's I can tell you from from personal experience. Like, you know, the the not being, even though the struggle doesn't necessarily get easier when you're in it, I'll tell you this, it's way harder when you're not a part of anything. Yeah, when you're entirely on your own in this world, you know, there's there's nothing friendly, nice, comforting, or joyful about that. And so what a joy to be able to return to something so grounded, so fundamental, so so impactful.

SPEAKER_01 18:22

Yeah, yeah. Strong statement.

SPEAKER_02 18:24

It's good. It's it's it's when when when you look at because I I think we all could relate, I think we're all was there at that moment and coming back to it. I think there's also what people struggle with is a lot of times maybe be even being prideful, right? Being prideful to even turn back. Like I don't want to like, yeah, like I'm gonna look dumb, right? I think when I think about that, I think about the prodigal son, like he didn't really, really wanted to go back, you know, he didn't want to to they're gonna make fun of me. He's not gonna accept me, all these things that you're thinking in your head. And God is, if you read these parables, God is saying, no, we're gonna rejoice when you come back. We we we want you to come here, you know. So there's there's that there's that peace that you have when you uh accept that and you repent and go, you know what, I did it wrong, let me turn away from it and go back. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 19:10

Yeah. And my second statement which is has to do with the rejoicing, is really interesting because almost every church I've been to or pastor I've talked to, we all talk about the angels in heaven that will be celebrating. There's gonna be a big party in heaven and the angels will be celebrating. And I ended up doing a bit of a dive on that, and this comes from Luke 15, 10. This is right after these parables. So they're talking about the rejoicing. And let me read it just verbatim so that way I get it right. Likewise, I say unto you there, there is joy on in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repents. It's joy in the presence of the angels, not joy from the angels. Now it doesn't say the angels don't rejoice, they might as well, but it's joy in the presence of them. This is again God rejoicing himself over you, not hey, the angels are rejoicing for you because hey, you're you know, you've accepted God and repented. This is God himself rejoicing in the presence in the presence of the angels of the angels.

SPEAKER_03 20:14

And I'm I'm saying, you know the salt, it's the Saul dancing in front of the in front of the daughter, right? Like it's it's it's the king dancing. It's David Dancing, yeah. David Dancing, sorry, I said Saul. Sorry, yeah. Yeah, it's David Saul's daughter, yeah. It's it's David dancing. I mean, it's the it's the by the way, I just saw you dancing when I said David dancing, and that was really funny. Um I'm sorry for that visual. Yeah, visual, vi visual, thank you. Clocked and placed away. All right, so the yeah, I mean, it's it's Jesus, it's God dancing and with joy that you've returned.

SPEAKER_00 20:44

Yeah, yeah. This is this is the to compare it to David again, you know.

SPEAKER_03 20:49

Can you read it one last time? I'm sorry, I'm really off.

SPEAKER_00 20:52

Likewise, likewise I say unto you, there is joy on in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repents.

SPEAKER_03 21:00

I also wonder as you read it, whether or not there's joy in the presence over one sinner for like meaning that when you've when you have returned, like I said, and I'm feeling this very this is very anecdotal and very personal, but like I feel a great joy to having returned. And I feel like the angels are in my presence of my joy in order for me to experience that, to be back, to be back in the presence of the angels, or to be, I don't know. I'm just playing that out. Like I think there's there might be even more to it still. Like, yeah, God's dancing, you're dancing. We all dancing. We all dance.

SPEAKER_00 21:31

To quote a very brilliant man, it's this and that. That's I wonder who said that. Uh uh, but it is, it's it's a wonderful thought that yes, it's us rejoicing, it's God rejoicing. It is uh, you know, I actually just taught on David the other day to some young adults, and one of the things I talk about is you know, the dancing and joy that he gets from God coming to Jerusalem, the tabernacle coming to Jerusalem, and for him to have God's presence around him and the joy that he felt with that. Right. I'm thinking about my own joy and the own flutters of my heart. And I I talk to the young adults about this. I go, how many of you, you know, have a girl or a guy that you like, and you're you know, butterflies in your stomach and your heart flutters, and you're like, Oh, I'm so happy with this person. Right. I go, what kind of joy do we feel with God's presence around us? And and what should we feel? Because God here is saying how much celebrating He's doing from us.

SPEAKER_03 22:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 22:23

And it just He listen, God always outdoes us, which I'm okay with, but I'm going, man, God shows such joy and love of us. There are times I need to make sure that my heart is still fluttering for God. Amen.

SPEAKER_03 22:38

That's beautiful. You got two amens on that one. You know that was you know that was a mic drop. You got two of them. I mean, this is this is a parable I'm gonna continue with.

Closing Invitation And Next Week

SPEAKER_00 22:47

This is a this is a parable, it goes so much deeper. Uh, one of the things when I was teaching about David also is you have the comparison of David dancing and God dancing, you know, David conquered Goliath with a stone, and you know, he beat the giant with a stone. He God carried the cross and defeated death and sin for us. And we know that there's a lot of comparison between David and Jesus. We know there's a lot of comparison between that. But when you really start to realize that the king of men was dancing in front of God, but the king of kings, the king of all, is dancing for us, it just puts on a different level. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 23:34

So what else you got to drop on us before we wrap it up? I I think listen, don't drop the sheep.

SPEAKER_00 23:40

Like most things, when you start to look you, when you start to look at parables and stories and some of the things, these things that are going on, there is you said it, Jason, there's a connective tissue that happens where you realize that these aren't happenstance, these aren't random things, these are cultural contexts, these are connective pieces from the Old Testament and New Testament. These are things that are foreshadowing and prophetic words that connect everything together. And this, whether you're looking at Adam and Eve, or you're looking at David, or you're looking at Ezekiel, and it's always pointing to the Father. And this one happens to point to a moment where when people think that the father could be wrathful, the father's dancing and joyful and in love with us. And our response could be to dance and be enjoyful and love him back.

SPEAKER_03 24:32

Yeah. Another, another bomb. There you go. Another bomb dropped. So whether you feel like a lost sheep, a black sheep, or some sheep in between, there are there is a story for you. There is a father who is following you, he is seeking you out, he wants you to be back in his presence and back in the presence of the people who are part of his kingdom. And this story blossoms that idea, as does the rest of the Bible, but I think it's one of the one of the simplest and easiest ways to get to it and to fully understand it. So if you're any of those people, today is a day to let him take you on his shoulders and to let him walk you back to the place that you should be, which is safety, which is peace, which is comfort, and which is something that we all deeply desire, which is to be in the presence of our God. So if if you're there today, congratulations. Let's uh let's continue walking together and doing this together. And speaking of being together, we'll be together next week with you. And in the meantime, we love your comments, shares, likes, and otherwise. So please keep them coming. And until then, we'll talk to you next week. Bye later.