Ninety Nine to One
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Ninety Nine to One
Date: 02/28/2024
Location: Wednesday Night Youth Group
Main Scripture Reference: Matthew 18:12-14 / Matthew 10:16
Intro
There is this debate among church leaders as to what the focus of the church should be.
Should it be centered on evangelism or discipleship?
Should we focus our efforts on sharing the gospel with the unsaved, or training, teaching, and uplifting those who are already in the church?
Matthew 18:12–14
Matthew 18:12–14 (KJV 1900)
How think ye? if a man have an hundred sheep, and one of them be gone astray, doth he not leave the ninety and nine, and goeth into the mountains, and seeketh that which is gone astray? And if so be that he find it, verily I say unto you, he rejoiceth more of that sheep, than of the ninety and nine which went not astray. Even so it is not the will of your Father which is in heaven, that one of these little ones should perish.
V 12
A man has 100 sheep, but one goes missing. That sheep is of too much worth to the shepherd to let it be in danger on its own.
So he leaves the 99 sheep behind, and he goes after the one.
So let me ask you, did that put the 99 in danger? Is this saying that the shepherd puts more emphasis on the 1 instead of the 99?
EX: Imagine if we were on a youth group trip at the beach and we are swimming in the ocean. Let's say all of you are on the beach, and the waves are starting get really dangerous, but one of you go out and get caught in the waves.
Would it make sense that I take all of you with me to go out into the dangerous waters to go save the one, or would it be safer to leave you on the beach and I go out to get them.
This is exactly what the shepherd does.
He ensures the sheep are safe, they are equipped, and they are protected, while he goes out into the danger to get the one.
V 13
It says that the shepherd is happier about finding the lost sheep, than he is about the 99 staying together.
So a sheep becomes defiant, runs off, and when the shepherd finds him he is happier about finding that sheep than he is about having 99 good sheep that stayed together? -
This may seem odd but it makes perfect sense.
If I were to swim out into the ocean and save one of you from drowning, I wouldn’t get back and say “I am so glad that you are all here and you are safe” I would say “I am so glad that this person I saved is safe!”
Still this seems a little unfair in principle, right. It seems like if the sheep want the shepherd to like them more than they should all go run off right?
V 14
Here is the application.
God is the shepherd, mankind is the sheep.
When one of his created man decides to defy him and run off, God chases after them. He draws them to salvation, if they are willing.
While at the same time those who are saved represent the 99.
So here seems to be the issue, does God care more about the 1 defiant person, that we would forget about those who have believed in him, and spend his time going after a sinner, and he would be more happy about retrieving the sinner than he would about having all those as his children that have already believed in him?
This seems a little unfair, and doesn’t quite make sense knowing the character of God.
Well let's apply this idea back to the church.
This is not talking about the church, but I think we can apply the principle.
Are we supposed to be a church that focuses only on sharing the gospel?
It appears that the focus should be on the defiant sheep, right? the one that left. It appears that Jesus forgets about the 99 to go after the 1.
Not quite.
Matthew 10:16
Matthew 10:16 (KJV 1900)
Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves.
So we have a twist in the process here. We see now that the shepherd is not forgetting about the 99 at all, in fact his goal is to bring the 1 back to the 99, so that they can be trained and then sent back out into the wilderness among wolves.
He is purposefully sending them out there. Why would he do this?
The ending of the verse gives us the reasoning.
It says we need to be as wise as serpents, but harmless as doves.
Remember that Jesus is not talking to us here, he is speaking to his disciples, but again I think the principle is very beneficial to us.
So what is this implying? It is implying that there is a process and a plan for those in the sheepfold.
1. Stray sheep are accepted into the sheepfold
2. They are protected and trained.
3. They are sent back out to find more lost sheep.
But it is also important to notice that every sheep is not just immediately sent back out?
Otherwise there wouldn’t be a sheepfold to come back to, all the sheep would be out in the wilderness.
Unfortunately this is exactly what happens in a lot of churches.
The church that is 100% focused on evangelism….
Their services are entirely directed at visitors
Shallow preaching, salvation messages every week, entertaining shows
Their instruction is only to go out
Everyone is serving in too many ministries, new and inexperienced Christians are doing things they are not equipped for, and the entire goal of the church is for the people to share the news of the church and the gospel so that the numbers can grow
These churches will often get someone saved, then they immediately put them in 5 different ministries, and send them back out into the world to get more Christians in their church.
Now you may think this method would be effective, but there is a fundamental flaw. There is no spiritual growth.
You end up with a church full of christians who know nothing about God.
They are not…
glorifying him
growing closer to him
and they are superficial and emotional in their spiritual walk
EX: I know of a baptist church that focuses very heavily on evangelism. Their messages are emotionally driven, little to know doctrine, what doctrine is taught is usually misinterpreted to benefit the person listening. They claim to hear audibly from God. They are doing big conferences and revivals, with expensive guest speakers multiple times a year. And they are growing, in numbers, but not in spirit. They are growing in emotion but not in knowledge. Really all they are doing is attracting sheep into the sheepfold through cheap and non doctrinal entertainment, and then they send them back out to get more sheep.
BUT WHAT IS THE POINT, IF NOBODY GROWS SPIRITUALLY?
There isn’t one.
This basically turns the church into a big pyramid scheme.
You get someone saved so they can go out and get more people saved, then they can do the same.
AND UNDERSTAND THIS ISN’T WRONG AS LONG AS THEY HAVE THE OTHER CRUCIAL PART AS WELL - THE SPIRITUAL GROWTH.
And here is how we achieve that spiritual growth, this is the training the sheep get in the sheepfold.
Wise as serpents, harmless as doves.
What does this mean? How can we live like two opposite characters at the same time?
Well the greatest example to the sheep is who?
The shepherd.
So if we are to know how we can live like this, and what this looks like, then we need to look at our shepherd, Jesus.
Harmless as Doves
Matthew 9:36
But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them, because they fainted, and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd.
Philippians 2:5-8
5 Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: 6 Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: 7 But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: 8 And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
Mark 10:45
45 For even the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.
The example of Jesus is that we are to be humble, kind, gentle, and a servant to others.
Harmless as a dove.
There are many churches today that you would find nothing humble, gentle, kind, or harmless about them.
These churches consist of non stop yelling and hellfire and brimstone preaching, judging each others sins, seeing who can be the best soul winner, the best preacher, who can get the biggest numbers in their ministry. These churches feel like youve been thrown into a tornado when you attend a Sunday.
But we are supposed to be harmless as doves. Gentle, humble, like Jesus
Does that mean we don’t point out sin - no
Does that mean we don’t serve in ministries - no
Does that mean we shouldn’t have bold preaching - no
But in the end, our goal should be to be a church and Christians that are harmless, gentle, kind, and humble.
Can I ask you teenager, is there a single one of those words you could describe yourself as?
Because if I were to ask you what makes you popular and successful, you would say I need to be dangerous, a threat, and better than everyone else right?
When you boys go to play basketball at the guy’s night are you thinking I am going to be kind, harmless, gentle, humble, and a servant to others?
NO YOU ARE THINKING I AM GOING TO BE THE BEST, I AM GOING TO BE TOUGHER, MEANER, AND BETTER THAN EVERYONE ELSE.
Obviously it is not wrong to play a sport hard, but it’s the heart I am talking about. Is your goal in sports, school, with your friends, in your family, to always put others down so you can be built up. Is your goal to make everyone scared of you.
This is the very opposite of how we should be.
But we are not trained to only be harmless as doves, but also wise as serpents.
Wise as Serpents
We are not called to be weak pushovers.
Jesus was definitely not a weak pushover, but he was also not a dangerous lunatic.
In one instance Jesus found the temple had been turned into a market. This was obviously an open point of defiance and mockery toward God. Jesus puts together a whip, and drives out the men from the temple, flipping over their tables.
He had every right to do this, it was his house after all, and they were being judged for their sin.
On multiple occasions the Pharisees try to trap Jesus with difficult questions.
Every time Jesus gives the perfect answer.
At the beginning of Jesus’s ministry he is tempted by Satan, and three times Jesus responded with an answer that completely shut Satan down.
He was definitely no pushover, he was always facing up to sin, he spoke boldly, and he always knew the right answer.
“The most dangerous man in the room is never the loudest.”
There is a lot of truth to this. If you want to be dangerous, and capable, then be humble, and wise.
The person that tries to be the most dangerous is usually the most unwise.
James 3:17 But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy.
As Christians there is one way that we can be wise.
James 1:5 If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.
How does God give us this wisdom, through his word.
Conclusion
So what should be the focus for the church, and for Christians, evangelism or discipleship?
It’s not one or the other, its both, because they are actually a result of one another.
True discipleship and spiritual maturity will lead to a desire to share that good news with others.
And when you share that good news with others, all you will want to do is learn more about the God that saved you.
The church should be like Jesus,
bringing in the sheep who have gone astray,
training them in the knowledge of good doctrine, and the word of God,
letting that knowledge and spiritual growth lead them to a desire to share it with others.
So then they go back into the world, full of wolves, to bring others back to the sheepfold so they can do the same.
This is the pattern for the church.
And notice this very important fact
Is it only the shepherd who goes out to find the stray sheep, no, the sheep go out too.
It is not the churches responsible to evangelize the world, it is yours. The church does evangelize, but it’s primary role is to train you and equip you to be the one to go out and share the good news of the gospel with others.
And you can only do this to the glory of God if you are willing to leave the 99, and go after the one, whether that be your friend, family member, or a stranger that needs Jesus. And you do it by being wise as a serpent, and harmless as a dove, just like Jesus did.