We Can Afford to Concentrate 1974

I just want to read one verse from the passage that Glenn already read, Luke 15, verse 4. What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go after the one which is lost, until he finds it? If there's any word that can describe the stirring of life that's going on in the Church of Jesus Christ, worldwide, over the last four or five years at least, it's the word urgency. We open our Bibles and we now begin to see Jesus no longer as an easygoing teacher handing down timeless truths on the quiet hills of Galilee. But rather we begin to understand that everything that Jesus taught and everything that he did was given against the background of the end of the world, of the ages we know of.

We begin to see that the teachings of our Lord apply in a special way to us now. Because the last generation that he refers to more than once, the generation that is to see Jerusalem restored to Israel and then surrounded and besieged, the age which is to see the fires of divine judgment coming down on the earth, the generation which is to experience the lightning flash across the heavens from one end to the other, and then see the return of the Messiah, is now alive on the earth. We see every indication of this being true.

So that when Jesus says, this gospel of the kingdom will be preached throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, then the end will come. We no longer think, if we ever did, in terms of hundreds of years or millions or billions of dollars poured into colleges and seminaries and church superstructures. But we rather think in terms of ourselves and our brothers and sisters and the brothers and sisters who are now being raised up all over the earth.

And when Jesus says, we must work the works of him who sent me while it is day, the night comes when no man can work, we see that this has special application to the saints of this hour. That the spirit that was driving our Lord from village to village and city to city, never allowing him to settle down in any place, is now beginning to stir, maybe only beginning, but indeed beginning to stir in our hearts. Just as then Israel just had to be covered with the word, so now the earth, the city of Detroit, and its suburbs have to be covered with the word of God.

And yet, this same Jesus, who was always on the move, who from the time he began his ministry never settled down and got comfortable in any way, always pressing on to the next town, always pressing on to the cross and then on to glory, nevertheless spent huge amounts of time with his father and always had time for one man or one woman who wanted to talk to him. Mary Magdalene, Zacchaeus, Nicodemus, the woman at the well, urgent as he was, pressed as he was by the spirit that was driving him on, he always had time to concentrate on his father and he always has time to concentrate on this one lost sheep. Now maybe he doesn't have five minutes to waste on somebody who simply wants to argue or split hairs over doctrine or manipulate him for their own ends, but the beaten down, broken, troubled, guilt ridden sinner, he never brushes aside.

Now there's a tremendous lesson in this for us and we need to learn it well, that no matter what work we've been given to do and how pressing that work may be, if we concentrate on our Lord and if we also concentrate on that one lost sheep who happens to come across our path, all the other things that need to be done and all the other problems that have to be solved will be taken care of somehow by God. But if we get so caught up in our great work for the kingdom of God that we no longer have time to concentrate on our Lord or on that one lost sheep, then the kingdom in which we labor is no longer God's kingdom, it's ours. And this is exactly what has been happening all over the earth including here on Mars.

What happens is that we become distracted, we let ourselves get distracted so that we are no longer able to concentrate. We're like Martha in the kitchen, anxious and worried and upset over all kinds of things when there's only one thing needful. And like Martha, we justify ourselves.

After all, dinner has to be cooked, the potatoes have to be peeled, the bread has to be baked, somebody has to clean the fish. And in the same way we say, after all, aren't we busy about essential things, necessary, legitimate things that have to be done in the body? These people have to be visited, don't they? Don't these misunderstandings have to be straightened out? Doesn't that wound have to be treated? Perhaps. But if these things which we say are legitimate scatter our minds so that we are no longer able to concentrate on our Lord and on that one lost sheep, then these things are not legitimate.

And this is what happens, we get caught up in the idea that it all hinges on us. And that if we don't hold this thing together, it's going to fly apart. But it's God's kingdom.

And God is still on the throne, and the Lamb is still at His right hand, and He has given us responsibility, really, only in two areas. And God help us to see these two areas and do something about it. Jesus has given us responsibility, first of all, in our relationship with Him.

If you abide in Me and My words abide in you. And secondly, He has made us responsible for that one man, that one woman, who comes near to us, who is at hand, and who is lost. See, and now somebody objects and says, wait a minute, aren't we responsible for our brothers and sisters? Aren't we responsible for the unity of the brotherhood, the brothers and sisters, the body? Yes, in the same way that the shepherd is responsible for the 99.

But what does he do with the 99? He lets them sit in the wilderness, not in the fold, in the wilderness amid all kinds of dangers, while he goes out there looking for the one lost sheep. And you say, but that was a very foolish thing to do. What he should have done was stay with the 99 and teach them how to love each other.

Then the lost sheep would no longer feel threatened or rejected, and he would automatically come back into the fold. See, and we have flocks of believers all over the place, where the sheep and the under-shepherds are forever holding seminars, how to love each other, how to get along with each other, in the hope that the lost sheep may just perhaps stumble back in and feel comfortable. And we have beautiful, gentle, charming little sheep who move from flock to flock, searching for the atmosphere that's most loving.

See, but what's happening in the meantime to the lost sheep? What becomes of him? Ah, but we can't afford to worry about him. We have to first of all bring the body together, and make the body one, and edify the body. We 99 must learn to love each other.

And so then what happens? We love each other to death. Our love grows sick, because it is no longer real, because it is not where God's love is. Where's God's love? Out there looking for the lost sheep.

90% of the problems inside the body would be immediately solved, if the sheep in the body would take to heart the burden of the Lord for the lost, the concern, the love of the Lord for the lost. We need to learn that even as we now are a motley crew of bumbling saints that we are, we can't afford to concentrate on that one lost sheep, even as our Lord concentrates on that one lost sheep, and even as the angels concentrate on that one lost sheep. We can afford to do that.

We begin the day, of course, by concentrating on Jesus himself. Every day, we step forth into his peace again. We renew our relationship with him.

We come into his light. We open our hearts to his word afresh, knowing that apart from him we can do nothing. And then, abiding in him, we go forth with eyes that can see and a heart that can truly sense and concentrate on that one man, that one woman at hand, leaving the swirly multitudes and the voices that clamor on all sides and the needs of the next hour to God.

Let the Spirit of God open your eye to behold one man, one person, one woman, one child that God has particularly given to you. Maybe it's a Lazarus, or a Mary Magdalene, or a Nicodemus, or a Zacchaeus, or a woman at the well. Whatever that person is, he or she is probably not a gem as far as the world is concerned.

But he is as far as God is concerned. And the object is to bring that gem back into God's light. Back to the Father's house, back to the flock.

And don't be worrying about the 50,000 other things that you could be doing at the same time. And don't lose sleep over the wrongs that you can't do anything about anyway. And concentrate your prayers and your conversation on this one lost sheep.

Bring that person the material help that he may need. Spend time with him. Know that God has sent you to bring that man, that woman, straight into the kingdom and don't be satisfied and don't quit until exactly that happens, until you see the flame of faith beginning to ignite and burn inside that heart.

Better to spend the whole evening drinking coffee with the one lost sheep than to run around making busy calls on five different people. Better to take that one lost sheep to Babelot than to try to cover a long list that somebody gave you or that you gave yourself. Stick to that one.

And hound that one and love that one. And God will take care of the other things that need to be done until you bring that lost sheep into the inn and have taken care of him or her and have then turned him over to the innkeeper and then you go out and find the next one. God doesn't keep score in heaven on the basis of how many souls we save.

He numbers the hairs on our head and for some of us that's not much of a problem. But he doesn't number people. He sees us one at a time.

And he sends us forth to one at a time. And he empowers us to deal with one at a time. And when that one sheep finds his way back, what joy there is.

Perhaps in the providence of God, one of these lost sheep has found his or her way into our midst this morning. If so, the Spirit of God is concentrated on you more than on the several hundred who have already entered the kingdom of God. He's calling you by name, whoever you are.

And he's visiting you right now with forgiveness and grace straight from heaven. And he's going to give you the power to get up and come home to the Father's house. And that's exactly what's going to happen.

We're going to pray. And whoever you are, if you're here, as we pray you're going to get up out of your seat and you're going to come down here and you're going to kneel and you're going to ask Jesus into your life and he's going to come. Right now.

Let's wait upon God right now. Heavenly Father, we're just looking to you to do your will in our midst. And should it be that one of your sheep that has been hearing the call to come home is in our midst right now, Father, that you give to that man or that woman the encouragement that's needed to come.

We're praying that you take away from this person, if this person is in our midst, all fear of man, all concern and worry about what people think, and that this thing that they've been wrestling with maybe for days or weeks or months or years will be resolved today. And that they will see the door wide open, that they will see in the Spirit the Lord himself standing there saying, Come. And that they will answer right now.

Praise God. Thank you, Father.