The God Who Seeks
God is a loving Father who actively seeks out sinners and saves them through Jesus Christ.
Selwyn Hughes preaches on the unique aspect of Christianity's focus on personal salvation, highlighting how Christianity is a rescue religion that proclaims the good news of God coming to save us from the power, penalty, and presence of sin. Using the analogy of a shepherd leaving the flock to find one lost sheep, the passage illustrates God's relentless pursuit of sinners to bring them back to Him. While Judaism acknowledges receiving sinners who return, it overlooks the profound truth that God actively seeks out the lost. This emphasizes the incredible love and grace of God in seeking and saving the lost.
Text
"Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep." (v. 6)
For reading & meditation:
Luke 15:1-10
We turn now to look at another aspect of Christianity's uniqueness - the issue of personal salvation. The vocabulary of salvation is distasteful to those of other religions and many insist we should give it up. They say, "It smacks of spiritual smugness and arrogance." But before we answer this criticism we must realize what Christianity is all about. Christianity is essentially a rescue religion; it is the announcement of the good news that God has come in the Person of His Son to save us from the power of sin, the penalty of sin, and one day in the future the presence of sin. In the passage before us today we see that God likens Himself to a shepherd who leaves the rest of the sheep in order to go after one sheep that is lost. The Divine Shepherd, far from abandoning the sheep in the hope that, bleating and stumbling, it may find its own way home, puts His own life on the line to search it out. Judaism denies that Jesus is the Messiah and that His sin-bearing death is the only ground on which divine forgiveness can be offered. One Jewish scholar, C. G. Montefiore, goes so far as to generously refer to the "greatness and originality" of Jesus in His attitude to sinners that "instead of avoiding them He actively sought them out." However, though Orthodox Jewish teaching recognizes that God receives sinners who return to Him, it fails to see that He also seeks them out. How utterly amazing. The One who seeks and saves is God.
O Father, what a thought: You did not send an angel to seek us out and save us. You came Yourself in the Person of Your Son. I can never put my gratitude into mere words. Help me show it by my life. In Jesus' Name. Amen.
Sermon Outline
- The God Who Seeks
- The uniqueness of Christianity
- The issue of personal salvation
- The role of God as a shepherd
Key Quotes
“The One who seeks and saves is God.” — Selwyn Hughes
“It is the announcement of the good news that God has come in the Person of His Son to save us from the power of sin, the penalty of sin, and one day in the future the presence of sin.” — Selwyn Hughes
Application Points
- We should show our gratitude to God by living a life that reflects His love and seeking out those who are lost.
- We should recognize that God's salvation is not just a one-time event, but a ongoing process of seeking and saving those who are far from Him.
- We should be willing to put our own lives on the line to search out those who are lost and bring them to God.