Trinity 3 sermon: Luke 15.1-10

Note: I wasn’t feeling well yesterday, and so wasn’t nearly as alert as I would like. I think I skipped the paragraph marked *** below. If I did, that would be unfortunate. I’m really not sure.

A well-known preacher recently preached a sermon series entitled “Thirty Days to a No-Regrets Life.” I expect that you are like me – you would like to have a life with no regrets. The problem is that it’s too late! You cannot embark on a program or a series of disciplines that will atone for your mistakes, remove your regrets. There are things you have done, and things you have left undone, that fill you with regret; and there are things you have done, and things you have left undone, that you ought to regret much more than you do!

Our Lord Jesus today talks about the most important characteristic a person can have: repentance. Repentance is the opposite of foreknowing or looking ahead; repentance is looking back and knowing that the decisions you made, the words you said, the things you did, were not good. Thus repentance involved changing your mind about those past actions, and desiring to become different, to walk a different way.

However, there’s a pretty big problem with stopping there; the things we have done that we regret, the things that a person might repent of, we might not be able to change or undo.

So contrition, or feeling bad, is not enough. Regret is not enough. Repentance, by itself, is not enough. Jesus uses a story of a lost sheep to show us the effects of sin on our lives: sin cuts us off from the shepherd, i.e., sin separates us from God; and it cuts us off from the rest of the flock, i.e., our family, especially the family of believers, the Church. But there is no remedy, no cure, no effort by which we can restore ourselves. The sheep is called “lost” and “in the wilderness,” where there is no hope of its finding the way back. Out in the wilderness, there is nothing but cold loneliness, dangerous predators, devouring death.

Perhaps he wandered away because he got tired of the shepherd and his rules. Perhaps he thought it would be nice to be alone for awhile; or maybe he thought the shepherd was leading them in the wrong direction. And so he wandered away – and by the time he realized his mistake, it was too late. So that lost sheep doesn’t need good advice. If he regrets wandering away, it won’t help him to return. There is only one thing that can save the lost sheep, and that is a rescuer.

That is what our Lord Jesus Christ is for you – He is your rescuer. He knows you have regrets; and He knows the things that you ought to regret. He knows how you have wandered on your own path, how you have been stubborn and not listened to the voice of the shepherd. He knows your foolishness, your rebelliousness, your desire for independence and to have your own way. And He knows that it has led you to the brink of death, to being devoured by the wolf and the lion, how it has brought loneliness and anxiety.

All this He knows – which is why Christ your Good Shepherd became man for you, assumed flesh for you, came into your hell for you, battled your demons for you, endured your temptations, afflictions, sorrows and despair for you, died on the cross for you, destroyed the power of the grave for you; all this is what is meant when the Shepherd goes and rescues the lost sheep, carrying it home on His shoulders. Because you could not rescue yourself. Left to yourself, you are alone, with only the grave gaping wide, its earthen arms ready to grasp and suffocate you, followed by the judgment of God banishing you from His presence forever.

***But this is not what God wishes for you. As we heard last week that God is love, today we hear that He delights in mercy. “Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity and passing over transgression?” The LORD delights in showing mercy – think about that word “delights”; when man shows mercy, he does it begrudgingly, but it is the delight of God to show mercy.

And so true Christian repentance is not trying harder, becoming more obedient, or working yourself into a extreme emotional state; true Christian repentance is recognizing that you are that lost sheep who cannot help himself, but then also seeing that your God delights in mercy and so He has come to rescue you, because He will not abandon you to the wolves, to the cold loneliness, to death and judgment; that He will come and save you. Indeed, He has already come and by the cross has already won your pardon, has already atoned for all the things you regret, has already laid down His life for all His lost and scattered sheep.

So why do you act as though you need no repentance? Do you live as though you are just, righteous, judging others around you? Humble yourself under the mighty hand of God, and repent.

Or why do you act as though your anxieties will get the best of you? Have you not heard that God invites you to cast all your anxieties on Him, because He cares for you?

In your pride, you have gone your own way. But still Christ the Good Shepherd comes for you. In your anxiety, you have acted as though you had no God; but still Christ the Good Shepherd cares for you and comes for you. In your regrets, you have worried that you are no Christian, and there is only judgment ahead for you. But Christ the Good Shepherd comes for you, and in the Sacrament of Holy Baptism put you on His shoulders and carried you into this flock, the Church. Here you are safe, for here Christ absolves you, forgives you. He takes those things you regret and casts them to the bottom of the sea. He takes your sins and tramples them under foot, where they have no power any longer. Rejoice and be glad, dear Christian, for Christ the Good Shepherd has looked on your affliction and your pain; He has forgiven all your sins, and the things you regret have lost their power, even as the grave has lost its sting.

Tagged as: Good Shepherd, Repentance, Trinity 3