The Value of One Little Lamb Luke 15:1-10; Ezekiel 34:11-24; 1 Timothy 1:12-17

Grace, mercy and peace to you, from God our Father, and our Lord, Jesus Christ, our good and loving Shepherd.

We’re going to talk about the value of one little lamb, as we just sang in our hymn.

The littler, the less. That’s conventional thinking; that’s how the world sees things. 

Thanks be to God, that’s not how Jesus sees things that way. In fact, in Matthew 16 He tells us to become smaller in a sense; that is, to believe like a little child.  

It takes a certain humility, a humble and trusting faith, to see yourself as a little lamb, completely dependent on your Shepherd and Savior.

But when your Shepherd is good and loving, willing to endanger Himself to rescue you, as our Good Shepherd is more than willing to do, even to lay down His life for you, as our Shepherd did, then it’s a wonderful blessing to be His dear little lamb.

And then there’s great value to your life, because of how greatly God treasures and values you.

Nothing is more valuable, than what God values. God values you more than anyone else does, more than anyone else can. His is the greatest and highest and deepest and dearest love for you.

In our Old Testament today, Ezekiel promises that the Messiah would be like a loving shepherd, seeking out the lost, which we all were by sin, rescuing them from danger, and bringing them into His flock, His fellowship, the Church. 

11 “For thus says the Lord God: Behold, I, I myself will search for my sheep and will seek them out. 

“I myself”, means the Messiah. God didn’t assign the task of winning salvation for the world to just any man, but to the man who is also His one and only Son, true man and true God.

As Isaiah calls Him, “Immanuel, God with us”. 

And so in Jesus His Son, God Himself came to earth to seek us out and save us. 

12 As a shepherd seeks out his flock when he is among his sheep that have been scattered, so will I seek out my sheep, and I will rescue them from all places where they have been scattered …. 13 And I will bring them into their own land, that is, the Church here on earth, and some day, the Church in Heaven.

Certainly with this prophecy in mind, Jesus taught the Parable of the Lost Lamb, or we could call it, the Parable of the Seeking Shepherd.

Jesus spoke this parable to explain to His critics why He went among those who were cast out, those considered unsalvageable or unsavable, and invited them into His saving fellowship, because He didn’t consider them beyond redemption.

Jesus said, 4 “What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open country, and go after the one that is lost, until he finds it? 5 And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing.

6 And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.’ 7 Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.

Jesus was saying, “If you would do this for a lost lamb, and you would, how much more ought you to do it for a lost person, a lost mind, and a lost soul?

How much more ought I, the Messiah, God’s Son sent to be the Great Shepherd of the Sheep, (as Jesus is called in Hebrews 13:20), seek out every lamb, every heart and every soul that’s lost?

If Jesus had not come seeking the lost and the outcast, it wouldn’t have boded well for us, or for anyone. 

It would have indicated that He doesn’t care all that much about those who are lost in the futility and vanity of sin, as we all once were.

He wouldn’t have cared enough for sinners to suffer and die for us... But He does, and so He did.

Jesus illustrates this with another parable, the Parable of the Lost Coin. 

A woman had 10 silver coins, but misplaced one. It was so valuable to her that she looked and searched until she finally found it; and then she rejoiced with her friends.

Jesus was saying to the Pharisees, how much more ought you, their leaders, and I, their Savior, seek out the hurting and the lost, who are far more valuable than a silver coin, or any number of coins. 

If Jesus would have caved to the criticism of His antagonists, who objected to Him forgiving the outcasts and bringing them into His fellowship, even making some of them His close disciples, had He caved to their threats and disapproval, then He surely wouldn’t have had the courage to take the punishment for our sin, and suffer until he died.

But He did, because He values each of us more than we can imagine. He died and rose for us all, not because we’re worthy, but because He loves us dearly. 

He had the love and courage to do this for us, and now, I’m His little lamb, and you’re His lamb, and we rejoice and sing, ever glad at heart I am!

Jesus said, 10 Just so, I tell you, there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”

As all heaven rejoices, let all the earth rejoice over each sinner, again, as we all are, each person who repents in Baptism, with sins washed away, a life restored, a soul renewed, a mind enlightened, a heart filled with faith to follow Christ, and with love to serve and help others, for each little lamb given this new and lasting life, let all Heaven and earth rejoice!

In conclusion, two things to consider and put into practice from these parables.

1. Rejoice in your salvation always. We rejoice in what’s dear and important to us, what we value highly.

If God and angels rejoice greatly over my salvation, may I never take it for granted, but always treasure and rejoice in the salvation God gives me.

And let us rejoice in the salvation of each and every soul, inviting and welcoming each one into the saving fellowship of Christ, for each person is dear and of great value to God. So may we dearly value each and every soul, and rejoice over each person who’s changed and saved by His love.

1. Let us live the life of a little lamb, a life of humble faith and service. 

As we said, that requires a certain humility; repentance and faith in Christ is by nature humble; admitting and believing that you’re a sinner needing a Savior means that you recognize your guilt, and mortality, and your weaknesses and limitations.

Paul says in our Epistle: 15 The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost. 16 But for this reason, I received mercy.

And so have we, and now we’re free.

How freeing it is to not have to pretend that you’re something you never could be. Your own Savior from your own sin and death, is something you never could be, but something Jesus was born to be, and died and rose to be. 

May God bless us to trust in His Son completely, happy to be His dear little lambs, our souls free and forgiven, our lives empowered to praise and to serve, and our hearts blessed with God’s amazing love, and with His extraordinary peace which passes our understanding, and guards our hearts and minds, in Christ Jesus, our Good Shepherd, who in love sought us out and rescued us, and with His angels, rejoices over us. Amen.