SERMON—God doesn’t give up on us!
Every now and then a poster notifying of a lost pet pops up in shop windows, on community notice boards, and stuck on street poles. A dearly loved pet has gone missing. They’re lost. Lost in the world and lost to their owners. In a desperate appeal, these posters go up, in the hope that someone has seen Milo or Missy, or Skipper or Scruff or Buster or Princess, and be alerted to keep an eye out for them.

A while ago I saw a missing pet poster in the local park at Glengowrie. As the weeks, then months, rolled by the photocopied sheets first faded, then became damp, sticking to the post like some kid’s paper mâché school artwork. I felt sorry for the animal and its owners, and as the signs stayed there over the months I wondered if anyone had taken any notice, if anyone was keeping an eye out, if anyone cared enough to look. If anyone was really searching, and how long before they gave up. Most, if not everyone, would answer that they don’t have the time. I realised that would be my response too.

Lost animals of course don’t know any different and don’t realise whether anyone is looking for them or not or have given up on the search. But sometimes people feel that way. Sometimes, because of life’s hard knocks, personal mistakes, being let down by others they trusted, abusive situations, relationship breakdown, failures of the care system—or failures of their own doing—some people feel that everyone has given up on them. They feel like no one would ever make the time for them to seek them out and show care to them. Some people feel completely abandoned and lost in the world. Perhaps they have been literally abandoned, as a spouse, or as a child, and when that happens, the pain cuts deep and the consequences are tragic.

Some people even feel as though God has given up on them. I came across a person on a social media platform saying that very thing. The title of their post is: “It feels like God has abandoned me.” The person wrote: “I have never felt as empty as I do right now…Last Friday night I spent it sitting in my car in the park just unloading. Complaining and tearing up. I’ve done a lot of things I shouldn’t have. Some of them have been being angry with God and directly challenging him. On more than one occasion I have told him to just get out of my life for good. I now know that was the biggest mistake I could have ever made.”

It was this person’s last expression of despair that stood out to me the most: “This was a pretty meaningless post but I just needed to unload and this is really the only place where I can do so. Even my friends would call me an idiot if I said any of this, but I know at least some of you would understand. Thank you for hearing me out if you got this far.”

They are depressing and even haunting words. Why? Because in the same post the person shared that they attend a church…yet they are convinced that if they went to anyone to talk about how they feel, they wouldn’t be taken seriously. Their last desperate hope where they felt they could pour themselves out to anyone was a faceless social media platform, in the hope someone would read their post and reply. That’s just so sad.

Perhaps you know someone who thinks like that…that everyone has given up on them…even God. Have you ever felt that way?

Today’s parable shows that God does not give up on us. Jesus says that the purpose of this parable is to teach what the kingdom of heaven is like—that is, what God is like and how he goes to work. Jesus teaches these heavenly truths by using earthly realities—earthly realities that his first century audience in an agricultural context would be well familiar with, like shepherds tending their sheep.

Sheep have the tendency to wander away from the flock, and get lost, and put themselves in all kinds of compromising positions, vulnerable to predators. Just have a look at this. Even though this sheep has been rescued, it runs off on its own course straight away, and puts itself back in the same danger as before. Jesus uses the image of a flock of sheep to picture his church, because, well, our human nature is not dissimilar to that of a wayward sheep, like the one in the video. In Isaiah 53:6 we hear: “We all like sheep have gone astray…”

To the religious leaders, for whom Jesus first taught this parable, the wandering sheep deserved to get lost. Serves it right! Don’t bother going after it! Only people who were good and right and moral and pious like they were, who followed their rules, and performed like they did, were allowed in the religious assembly. So imagine the religious leaders’ shock and horror when they see Jesus welcoming these unrighteous people that they asserted did not deserve God’s favour, but rather his condemnation. What was Jesus thinking? They had done so well at keeping these unclean, unworthy people out of the community! They were disgusted that the sinners and publicans were going to Jesus to listen to him. In fact, they gave up on them and wrote them off. These people should just…get lost. But they had forgotten that they needed God’s grace too. The irony was that they were lost in their self-righteousness. The publicans and ‘sinners’ knew their guilt. But they looked to Jesus for their righteousness and forgiveness.

That’s why Jesus tells this story: “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?

Sheep are very valuable—just look at the price of a tray of lamb chops at the supermarket! A whole lamb is worth even more of course and would have been especially valuable to ancient agricultural societies, which is why there were shepherds in the first place. A shepherd doing a headcount of their flock, who discovered that he was one short, wouldn’t just pass it off without a care. Instead, they would go searching for the lost sheep, because it was theirs, and it was valuable to them. They wouldn’t want their sheep to be left exposed and come to grief to predators or thieves.

 Jesus is teaching how much more valuable than a sheep each person is! In the same way, everyone is valuable to God! True, everyone is a sinner. I’m a sinner. We’re all sinners. But we are all still dearly loved by God, worth so much to him. He doesn’t want anyone to be lost. He doesn’t give up on anyone.

Perhaps you know someone who thinks God has given up on them. Perhaps you’ve thought that at times yourself. That’s exactly why Jesus tells this parable. There is only one person in the parable—the Shepherd. This character, then, can only represent God. God doesn’t just put up a sign in the park that says, ‘Hey, I lost a sheep’ and hope someone else will find them. There is an intention, a will, a decision, a commitment by God to go and search, and keep on searching for his lost sheep. He does not stop searching until his lost sheep are found.

The sheep does nothing to contribute to its rescue. It would be easier, and exert less effort, take less time and be less costly to just let the sheep go. But the sheep means too much to the Shepherd. The shepherd takes the initiative to find his sheep, even though the sheep has done nothing to deserve it. This shows us the profound truth that it is not us who measure up and reach God by our effort, but God, of his own will searches for and finds us.

How might you be able to use this parable with someone you know who thinks that God has given up on them?

There is a suggested guide after this sermon for how you might give someone else hope through this parable, but in a nutshell, should anyone ever share with you their despair that God has given up on them, make the time to patiently listen to their story. When they are ready, ask them if you can share the hope you have for them. The goal here is not to build up self-esteem—for the person to grow in confidence and faith in themselves. The goal is actually to build up confidence in what God thinks of them, and says about them, and what he has done to make this a reality in their own lives. Use this parable to tell them there is someone who values them so much, quite apart from what they have done or what has been done to them. Tell them that God would never give up on us because of what we’ve done. And tell them that what has happened in their life is not a sign that God has given up on them.

The Cross is where the question “Has God given up on me?” is answered. Explain that when we look to the Cross we see most clearly that God has not forsaken us. Although we have all gone our own way, it was upon Jesus that God laid on him the iniquity of us all. It was there on the Cross that Jesus was the One abandoned for the world—abandoned by the religious leaders, abandoned by the political leaders, abandoned by his disciples…and even abandoned by God. Jesus cried out: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” It was Jesus who was forsaken by God, so that we would be God’s very own.

It is on the Cross, with the outstretched arms of Jesus, that God embraces us with all our unholiness, all our unrighteousness, all our sin, guilt, and shame. Our place in God’s flock is completely dependent on God’s initiative and action—his searching, his grace—not our performance. God sent his Son, the Good Shepherd, to intentionally seek his sheep out and bring us into his flock. When he finds us it is not to judge us or condemn us, but to lift us up. He lifts us up from the kingdom of darkness. He lifts us up from our failings. He lifts us up from our fears, including the fear of being left alone. He lifts us up from our guilt and shame. He lifts us up from all the evils and hurt others have done against us. He lifts us up from our weakness and brokenness.

He lifts us up, hoisting us high on his own shoulders, bearing us and all our burdens himself. He is the Shepherd of whom Psalm 28 says: “Be their shepherd and carry them forever.”

Dear brothers and sisters, Jesus has found you and lifted you up upon his shoulders too. And he is so happy to have found you and brought you home. He is so overjoyed he calls all the angels and the other saints to share in his celebration.

He has brought you to lie down and rest in green pastures that your soul may be refreshed and fed with the treasure of his word. He has washed you by water and the word and made you clean from the mud and filth of sin and has taken away the prickles and brambles of the sins of others against you. And although you are tired and hurting, frail and anxious, he has carried you here to these green pastures to give strength to your tired bodies and flickering souls with the food that this world cannot give—the table he prepares before us. In this meal your cup overflows with divine favour as you receive his holy and precious body and blood—the offering your Good Shepherd gives to make you holy.

And so it is true: God has not given up on you. We can join with the Psalmist and declare:
Surely God’s goodness and love will follow me
all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

God is overjoyed about that! Amen!

Application points: how could this parable help you respond to someone who feels like God would never want them?

 Note: this is not intended to be an exhaustive list or a perfect step-by-step instruction of how to get results, but just ideas and suggestions as a guide only that needs to be adapted to each context

 Pray for an opportunity to share your faith and tell this parable with someone who needs to hear it!

 Study this parable and know it. You won’t be able to help someone else engage with the Good News of this parable if you don’t know it and how it applies to you yourself!

 Work on building positive relationships with those around you—those you are friends with, your neighbours, work colleagues, the retail attendant who you recognize serves you regularly. Ask them how they are. Be intentional about showing care and concern for them. This kind of relationship building takes years, but it is worth it!

 Keep praying!

Look for openings to share the practical aspects of your faith when the opportunity presents itself—for example, when those you talk with ask if you have a busy week, tell them what you’ll be doing in your volunteering capacity at St Paul’s. If they ask if you’re doing anything on the weekend, tell them that you’ll be going to church, and explain where St Paul’s (or whatever your local congregation) is.

 Invite them to come with you to one of the activities of the congregation. Note: one of the main reasons people feel uncomfortable in coming to worship on Sundays is that it is a completely foreign environment to them, in which they know no one else. We would feel the same about going to a new facility on our own for the first time without anyone with us!

Of course, invite them to come with you to worship, but inviting them to come to one of the activities of the congregation (e.g Music nite, Latte Ladies, Wednesday community meal) might be a more appropriate first step of connecting with a church for them, where the goal is to meet some more people from the congregation without the added pressure of navigating through an entire worship service.

If they share a difficult situation in their life with you, welcome this! Be patient and non-judgmental with them. Give them permission to share further with you, if they are comfortable doing so.

 Offer to pray for them If the situation allows, it would be ideal if you are able to pray with them, asking God who is everywhere present, to help, bless and comfort them.

 If the person bears some kind of great guilt and/or shame, it is crucial that you validate what they feel! Not to do so would make you just another person in their life they feel they cannot trust. They may likely assert that God has given up on them (this would most likely come to the surface somewhere between points 6-8 above). At this point, validate what they feel! (“I’m so sorry to hear what has happened and that you feel like that…”). Avoid moralizing (“You should forgive and forget…you shouldn’t feel that way…you just need to…”).

The person would most likely not welcome prayer or accept an invitation to come to church because their sense of guilt and shame is great. Many people in these circumstances have a mental image of the church only heaping more condemnation and judgment upon them, and the thought of coming is unbearable. They may likely express that there is no way God would ever want someone like them.

 Ask if you may share the hope you have—that God will never give up on us:

• Jesus told a story about that once—about a shepherd who had 100 sheep. One of them was lost, and he searched for it until he found it. He was overjoyed when he found his lost sheep, because it belonged to him.
• This is a story about God and you too. God wants each of us to know him and know his love. He values a relationship with everyone so much that he gave everything he had. God the Father did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all on the Cross. Jesus was the one abandoned so that we never would be.
• Jesus has come into our world to seek out God’s people. And when he finds us he lifts us up—he lifts us up from our mistakes, our failings, our guilt, our shame, our past. There is nothing more God wants than for you to turn to him. When we do, there is great rejoicing in heaven!

Don’t focus on results, but on the relationship…and keep endeavoring to strengthen it. Follow up with them through the week. Remember it is all up to God, and he delights to use all his children in his work of building up his kingdom. God bless you in the opportunities he brings you!

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