Luke 15:1-7: Who knows you're here?
Sermon preached at Barclay Church, Edinburgh by Dr Fiona J. Tweedie
20 July 2003

SPACE
If you get on a bus or train by yourself, where do you sit? If there are a few people on the bus already, where do you go? Unless you know one of the people there, almost everyone will sit as far away from everyone else as possible. We only sit next to someone if we absolutely have to. We like to have our “personal space”. Even here on a Sunday morning, until the church fills up, people sit, it seems, as far apart as possible. If we're talking with someone, we don't like them to stand too close. Some American research has shown that we prefer people to be between 6 and 8 feet away if we're going to talk with them. If someone comes closer, we can feel threatened. Sometimes, if we're talking with someone from another culture, they seem to be “in our face” - to them we must seem to be standing far too far away. They don't mean to threaten, they're just talking to you at a distance that is comfortable for them. In countries that have larger populations, there isn't room for such personal space.

Perhaps this is what has happened to one of the sheep in the parable that Jesus told, it went looking for some personal space, away from the jostling crowd of sheep, and got lost. It's a familiar parable, one we have probably heard many times, the shepherd leaves the rest of the sheep and searches and searches for the lost sheep until he finds it and brings it back to the rest of the flock. It's a parable showing just how much God loves us – he will look and go on looking UNTIL he finds us and brings us home. And then, after all that looking he doesn't punish us for wandering off, or take us aside for a little chat about staying with the other sheep. No he has a party because we're home. Wow – what a shepherd! That is our God. No matter where we are, or what we have done. He won't stop searching for us. All we have to do is stop running, let Him do the work, let Him bring us home.

It would be nice if the Bible left it at that – we are searched for, brought home, celebrated over. Stay in the sheepfold, live a nice life with the shepherd. But no, if we turn to 1 Peter 5, it turns things on their heads - “Be shepherds” he says – not sheep – shepherds.

In that passage, Peter was writing particularly to the elders in the church. He tells them to serve willingly and eagerly, as examples to the flock. But these are words that can teach us all, whether or not we have been ordained to the Kirk Session. We all have things God has called us to do. We should do them willingly, eagerly, as examples and encouragement to others. Peter tells us “Be shepherds of God's flock that is under your care” [v2] Well, we might say “That's OK, that's a job for the pastoral care people – they're good at that! It's not my job”. But people under your care include your friends, your neighbours, your colleagues at work, your family. God calls and welcomes all kinds of sheep into his flock, and we're called to be shepherds to some of them. Shepherds have to know where the water and grass is, where the sheep will be safe, and how to guide the sheep there.

As Christians, we know that it is in Christ alone that we are safe, - as the hymn goes “No wrath of hell, no scheme of man, can EVER pluck me from his hand” - he will provide for all our needs. But how are we on the guiding aspect? Can we guide others to Him? Can we (shock, horror) evangelise?

There, I've said it – the E-word. Evangelism. That thing that Billy Graham does. Or Nicky Gumbel, or some weird looking folk on American television who seem to want money rather than win your soul. Or the parish mission team, folk that are interested, folk who are outgoing, folk who know all the answers to questions people will ask, folk who are “really good Christians”. Folk like them. Not like me. But Jesus gave the Great Commission to all his disciples – he said “GO and make disciples of all nations”. Not, “Peter and Simon are good at this – they should go and make disciples – James is a bit quiet – he doesn't need to”. He told them all to go, and that includes us.

Evangelism isn't about meeting strangers, telling them about Jesus and having them immediately follow you into church thanking you for solving all their problems. If you're very lucky it might be, but for the rest of us evangelism is a process. Research in the UK has shown that it takes on average 5 YEARS for a man to become a Christian, and he needs to have heard the gospel presented 30 times. That's 3-0, not 1-3. So, you might be person 30, but you're much more likely to be person 21 or even number 1 or 2.

One way of looking at evangelism is known as the Engle Scale – it goes from 1 to 10, with 1 being someone who hates Christians and God. Point 10 is when they accept Christ for themselves. Evangelism is meeting people at wherever they are on the scale and moving them up it a bit. Wherever they are – whether you're just showing that Christians aren't actually that bad at points 1 or 2, whether it's inviting someone along to an Alpha course at points 6, 7 or 8, or whether its helping them commit to Christ – evangelism is a PROCESS, not a one-off event. You might encourage someone from 2 to 3, then someone else will take them from 3 to 5, then someone else... God knows what we can do, where we are best placed. He knows how someone will move along the scale, he is in control, he sees the whole process.

Evangelism isn't hurling tracts at people in the street; it isn't in door-to-door visits; one-off events run by churches, although people have come to faith in those ways. Evangelism is being there, being known as a Christian. Not shoving it down people's throats, not forcing them to listen while you dissect last week's sermon. Just being known that you don't do the shopping on Sunday mornings, being known that you're here, not somewhere else. That's it, you've starting evangelising – it wasn't too hard was it?

If we read a good book, go to a good exercise class, find a great new receipe, restaurant or film, we often tell our friends about it. We get interested in things that friends recommend to us – we try the restaurant, read the book. But when did we last tell our friends about a good service, a Christian event that you enjoyed, an answer to prayer, a time when you were aware of the presence of God of His love and forgiveness? I read recently about a couple of men, Tom and Jack, who played golf together every week for twenty years. They discussed everything together, or so it seemed – families, who was in the news, sport – everything. Then Jack fell ill, seriously ill. The doctors could do nothing. Tom went to see Jack, and tried to explain his Christian faith. To help Jack see that he could accept forgiveness and go to be with Christ. What was Jack's response? “It's allright Tom, don't bother - if it was that important you would have told me years ago.” “if it was that important you would have told me years ago.” How important is your faith to you? More important than that book, that film, that restaurant? If not, that's what people will see.

But, we've not to change into weird American TV evangelists overnight. Your friends are friends with YOU, not a weird American TV evangelist. Your friends are YOUR friends, and in today's world, there's a fairly good chance that YOU will be the only Christian they know. People often say that they would be Christians if only they could see God. But Jesus ascended over 2000 years ago. They won't see God, they won't see someone incredibly good like Mother Teresa and probably not Billy Graham either. Who do they see? They see us – we have invited Jesus into our lives, we have the Spirit within us – we are how God is shown to them.

There are lots of “lost sheep” today – people in search of “personal space” - enticed by the apparent freedom, and unaware of the dangers of the wilderness. Other people are only too aware of the dangers, but have no idea of how to find their way to safety, pools to drink from and green pasture to eat. We all know people who are not Christians, we may be the only people they know who undertand where love, acceptance and forgiveness are to be found. But what a challenge to us all - “be shepherds”

Let's turn back to the passage from Luke to see what we can learn from this parable about being shepherds.

LEAVES
The first thing that the shepherd does when he realises that a sheep is lost is that he “leave[s] the ninety-nine in the open country and go[es] after the lost sheep” [v4] He goes out after the sheep, he doesn't wait for them to wander randomly into his sheepfold. He leaves the other sheep and goes out to find the wandering sheep where they are. We often expect people to come to church like that, they should just wander in to the building on a Sunday morning, listen to the service and suddenly be converted. But a fisherman doesn't sit with a net above the water and wait for the fish to jump out of the water and into it, he puts the net in the water to catch the fish. He goes to their world, to where they are. In bringing others to Him, we have to go to their world, to where they are. It's often easy to get carried away in church things, but the shepherd doesn't stay in the sheepfold counting an re-counting the remaining sheep, he goes out – we must go out, spend time with friends who aren't Christians, be where they are.

Searching for sheep isn't a matter of wandering the wilderness, hoping to come across a homeless sheep. A shepherd will use all of his experience to find the sheep.

A shepherd knows about sheep – their habits, what they like to do, where they like to walk. We might not be experts in sheep, but we are all experts in people like us. We know what makes us tick, what experiences we have had, what we respond to. We are experts in our type of sheep, go after those sheep.

Not only does the shepherd know the habits of the sheep, he needs to know the countryside in his area – where might the sheep be? You are uniquely placed to “know the countryside” of your culture – whether it's in a school, university, office, golf club or sheltered housing. You know your area, the detail, the places where sheep gather. Use that knowledge, go after the sheep.

A modern shepherd will have a map of his area or guide books. He uses all available aids. There are books to read about our postmodern culture, ideas for how to reach people use other people's experiences – we don't have to rediscover a way of looking for sheep. Get ideas, go after the sheep.

When the shepherd gets closer to the sheep, there will be signs. Footprints, droppings, half chewed grass. If we have talked about being a Christian, people will respond – they will ask questions, perhaps not directly, but they may be interested and make comments. Watch for the signs, you may be getting close, go after the sheep.

UNTIL
The shepherd then, makes use of all his experience and all the available information. He goes to all the places he knows sheep might be. He goes, and if he doesn't find the sheep, he goes somewhere else, and somewhere else, until he finds the sheep. He is persistent – he doesn't give up after the first time doesn't work out. As Sam in the Dr Seuss story in the children's address, be persistent. That doesn't mean inviting a friend to Christian events every time you see them, or only talking about church EVERY time you see them, but it does mean asking, and going on asking. Just because someone says No once, doesn't mean that they will never come, they maybe couldn't make it that night, but they're actually quite curious. Go after the sheep, and keep looking for them.

JOYFULLY PUTS IT ON HIS SHOULDERS
Now, we may get to the point where we have tracked down a sheep – we've used our knowledge of the landscape, the sheep, the maps, and we've got our sheep. Now what? We can't very well sling our friend over our shoulders and bring them to church. They will have questions, questions about our faith. Make sure that you can answer at least some of them, but your friend will appreciate you admitting that you're not sure, rather than giving some vague and woolly answer. Be prepared to tell them what God has done in your life, what being a Christian means to you, answers to prayer, times when you have felt God's guidance or been particularly aware of his presence. You might find it helpful to have written these things down for yourself. That can help to put into words what you've only thought about. They want to know what being a Christian is like – be able to tell them.

But the job doesn't end there – we can't just send our sheep off with directions to the sheepfold, with instructions on what to do. Our friend will need support, answers to questions, introductions to people like them in church, help in choosing daily readings, answers to more questions, and so on. As the shepherd helped the sheep back to the flock, so you have to carry this new Christian on your shoulders for a while, support them in finding their way in their new Faith. Otherwise they might get lost on the way to the sheepfold, attacked by a wild animal, or distracted by an interesting looking path.

REJOICE WITH ME
When the shepherd returns, he calls his friends and neighbours together and they celebrate the return of the sheep. Bringing someone to Christ is one of the most important things we can do – it's not just something for Billy Graham or Nicky Gumbel. Our friends don't know how Billy Graham acts towards his friends, they don't see how Nicky Gumbel behaves at work, they see me, and they see you. The work that we do gives the angels an excuse for a heavenly party, and when the Chief Shepherd comes for his flock, we will receive the crown of glory, and then, as Daniel reports, we will shine like the stars for ever and ever.

Amen