So, a couple of things bother me about the Lost Sheep parable.
My first issue: does anyone notice that the shepherd leaves the 99 sheep kiddos ALONE in the open country as sitting prey for wolves?
I think it’s pretty simple that the 99 sheep who never strayed, and never wandered from His voice … know HOW to use their voice of authority in the presence of a wolf.
If a wolf came to mess with any one of these, the herd would open a can of spirit led whoop tail on the lurking wolf. Even the weakest, would be protected by the strongest. Yes, when it comes to demonic, false teaching, sickness, FEEDING the other sheep, and the hurts of the world … I think the body of Christ can learn from this principle.
In fact, this parable begins in verse 10, “See that you do not despise one of these (lost) little ones.” Yet, we as the body tend to point fingers, mock, ridicule, gossip, slander, push man made religion, heap condemnation, and even eat/devour our own.
My second hang up: does anyone notice that the lost sheep never became a goat?
“And he will place the sheep (believers) on his right, but the goats (unbelievers) on the left.” Matthew 25:33
At the end of time, the nations will be judged, and the angels will come to separate the sheep from the goats. Yet. Even while lost or separated from the herd, the status of the sheep never changed. In fact, this parable begins in verse 10 with, “For I tell you that in heaven THEIR angels always see the face of my Father who is in heaven.” YES, these lost ones have angels, these are BELIEVERS!
As someone pointed out to me, for something to be LOST, it has to first BELONG to someone! If you lose a watch, the watch still belongs to YOU! As a believer, you belong here, now, and forever to the shepherd!
Folks, the same way the prodigal son never stopped being a son, this lost sheep NEVER stopped being a sheep!!! It's simple. You are either a sheep or a goat ... there isn't another biblical choice.
Jesus isn’t literally LOOKING for the sheep, He knows exactly where the little lost sheep is! But, the sheep doesn’t know where he or she is! At the core, this is about repentance! In the Greek, “he finds it” (heurisko) means to return to a place. Yes, to return to the highest place, to Jesus!
I love how the parable ends in verse 14 … “So it is NOT the will of my Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones (SHEEP: BELIEVERS) should perish.”
I take it to mean just that.
To be a child of God as justified (made legally righteous) by their own heart (Romans 10:10) yet lost living in the earth … is a life dwelling needlessly in the yuck and mire of the pig pen. Yet, Jesus will not lose ONE LITTLE SHEEP that has been given to Him by The Father (John 6:39). Those who are His that become needlessly lost in the earth … Jesus by His own pledge to the Father … will get them home to heaven!
Matthew 18:10-14
The Parable of the Lost Sheep
10 “See that you do not despise one of these little ones. For I tell you that in heaven their angels always see the face of my Father who is in heaven.12 What do you think? If a man has a hundred sheep, and one of them has gone astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine on the mountains and go in search of the one that went astray? 13 And if he finds it, truly, I say to you, he rejoices over it more than over the ninety-nine that never went astray. 14 So it is not the will of my Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish.”