Lost Sheep

I wrote the following for a sermon I gave at church. Was led to put it here.

Lost Sheep
As I studied the scriptures Jeremiah 18:1-11, Luke 15:1-10, I looked to see what they had in common, what would link them all together. I saw in Jeremiah that God’s chosen people once again have went their own way, they are worshiping idols, and pretty much doing as they please. They are not living as God would have them live. God is frustrated with them because he had done so much for their fathers and now the kids that are living in the promise land are doing the same things their father’s did. In fact at this time there has even been a split in Israel. Israel has become 2 nations Israel in the north and Judah to the south and God sends Jeremiah to Judah with a message for his people. Repent and I will be merciful “God says” .

Now I went on to read Luke 15: 1-10, it is the parable about the lost sheep. Jesus tells this story about a Shepard that leaves 99 sheep to go in search of his lost sheep. What does lost sheep have to do with the nation of Judah, well Judah just happens to be a lost sheep. Judah went her own way and she got lost. And just as a sheep gets lost, the Shepard goes to look for that lost sheep, God sent a Shepard to Judah to bring them home.

Now moving on to I Timothy 1: 12-17 we hear Paul being thankful that Jesus had given him strength and considered him faithful, and because of his faithfulness Paul was appointed to serve Christ. Some may say so what does Paul have to do with lost sheep? Paul was a lost sheep.

What ties these scriptures together is that they refer to the same thing, going your own way and getting lost, but also about being found.

As I read these scriptures I thought about my own life. I thought about how I have been a lost sheep at different times. How I have allowed everyday life get me off the path. How I have woke up and wondered where my Shepard is? I am so happy that my Shepard Jesus doesn’t quit looking for me till he finds me and brings me back to the flock. How does one become a lost sheep? It is so easy to get lost. Sheep are followers, and a lot of us are followers. We don’t even realize we are following someone or something until we wake up one day and realize we don’t know where we are. We wonder how did I get here.
So, many of us may say I am not lost. But some of us don’t even realize we are lost.

We think we have good lives. We may have a few troubles here and there, but for the most part life is ok. So how did we get lost?

We got lost because of our circumstances, society, family, friends, hobbies, greed, selfishness and this list is endless. Our lives are busy doing stuff, is it necessary stuff, well most of us need to work, but we can even let work get us lost. And what of all the other things that we cram into our life. For each of us it is different.

These scriptures we have heard today are talking to those who are lost, lost sheep. Those that live day by day, on their own strength, that do what they want, when they want, without any consideration for God. Those that don’t truly have a walk with God. There are people that can talk the talk, but not walk the walk.


Paul was lost, he persecuted Christians, he was a tax collector, he was a bad person, but God had plans for him. He didn’t want him to stay lost. God brought Paul back to the flock. God sent Jeremiah to bring Judah back to the flock. God has sent us a Shepard to bring us back to the flock.

For me theses scriptures are not so much about being lost as they are about hope, hope for the lost. We have hope in Jesus. We have hope because God does not want us to be lost. If he wasn’t a caring Shepard he never would have sent his only son to be the Shepard that would look for the lost and bring them home. We can see by these scriptures that God sent Shepard’s to bring the lost home.

He sent Jeremiah to Judah, He sent his son Jesus to the world, He sent Paul to many places and he even uses people today to be Shepards to bring the lost back to the flock. These scriptures also say that there are celebrations in heaven when one lost sheep is brought back to the flock. How exciting! We get excited to, when we see a person that seemed to be lost, turn their life around.


Yes, we have hope. The lost have hope. God’s word shows us that God never gives up on the lost. He keeps looking for them. He wants to find them and bring them home.


So if you don’t want to get lost or you want to be found, just pick up God’s living word and go to God in prayer. Talk to him every day. Read his word every day. He will be there for you. Follow God and you won’t be lost.