What If the One Was You?

“If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them wanders away, what will he do? Won’t he leave the ninety-nine others on the hills and go out to search for the one that is lost? And if he finds it, I tell you the truth, he will rejoice over it more than over the ninety-nine that didn’t wander away! In the same way, it is not my heavenly Father’s will that even one of these little ones should perish.-Matthew 18:12-14

There are some who don’t like certain facets of the modern age, and believe the church should not be involved at all. Examples of this would be music, social media, and the role of the minister in the Church. In Music, many would rather have the same music (that was once new, by the way) played from when their grandparents took them to church; while there is modern Christian music that is absolutely lousy, pandering to emotionalism, and lacking depth, there are also many older songs that the same could be said. This has more to do with style, taste and nostalgia than theology! Social media is another place where I’ve heard, personally, that I should, as a Christian, not have anything to do with that nasty, negative cesspool! I’ve also been told that a Minister’s place is behind his desk, studying for 40-80 hours a week, all the while visiting the sick, and meeting the needs of the neediest people in the Church (Jesus, Peter, Paul, James or John never did that, but I digress).

These complaints (and more) speak more to the complainer than the truth, and the truth is this: there are lost sheep that need to be found. Yes, I agree, some music is bad, some social media is bad, and some preachers are lazy, but the fact is there are lost people in this world who need Jesus! Many of us who complain (I include myself) have either been a part of church culture our entire lives, or have been in it so long, we forgot what it was like to be lost. We want our nostalgia or comfort zones stroked but forget to consider this one thing: you, oh sheep who are with the flock, what if you were the one who was lost? Wouldn’t you want someone to find a way to reach you by any means necessary? Wouldn’t you want a shepherd like David that, when the lion or bear came for you, struck and killed it? Wouldn’t you want someone to come down to your level to bring you to where Jesus is? And that is what Jesus did for us. He left Heaven for us. He got in the dirt with us, though He didn’t participate in our filthiness. He left the 99 secure to find the one, and He died and rose again for us. If that is what He did for us, and countless others have done since, shouldn’t we do the same? Shouldn’t we reach people where they are at so that we can bring them to where we are? We can reach people in music, social media, ministry and more, right where they are without compromising the faith, and we should. We should be so about the Gospel that we reflect Paul’s life: becoming all things to all men that by all means I might save some. So, when you don’t understand (you don’t have to), or don’t like what is going on in Ministry circles, so long as it is not compromising God’s word, ask yourself “What if I was that one that they are going after?”

1 Corinthians 9

Am I not free? Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord? Are not you my workmanship in the Lord? If to others I am not an apostle, at least I am to you, for you are the seal of my apostleship in the Lord.

This is my defense to those who would examine me. Do we not have the right to eat and drink? Do we not have the right to take along a believing wife, as do the other apostles and the brothers of the Lord and Cephas? Or is it only Barnabas and I who have no right to refrain from working for a living? Who serves as a soldier at his own expense? Who plants a vineyard without eating any of its fruit? Or who tends a flock without getting some of the milk?

Do I say these things on human authority? Does not the Law say the same? For it is written in the Law of Moses, “You shall not muzzle an ox when it treads out the grain.” Is it for oxen that God is concerned? Does he not certainly speak for our sake? It was written for our sake, because the plowman should plow in hope and the thresher thresh in hope of sharing in the crop. If we have sown spiritual things among you, is it too much if we reap material things from you? If others share this rightful claim on you, do not we even more?

Nevertheless, we have not made use of this right, but we endure anything rather than put an obstacle in the way of the gospel of Christ. Do you not know that those who are employed in the temple service get their food from the temple, and those who serve at the altar share in the sacrificial offerings? In the same way, the Lord commanded that those who proclaim the gospel should get their living by the gospel.

But I have made no use of any of these rights, nor am I writing these things to secure any such provision. For I would rather die than have anyone deprive me of my ground for boasting. For if I preach the gospel, that gives me no ground for boasting. For necessity is laid upon me. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel! For if I do this of my own will, I have a reward, but if not of my own will, I am still entrusted with a stewardship. What then is my reward? That in my preaching I may present the gospel free of charge, so as not to make full use of my right in the gospel.

For though I am free from all, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win more of them. To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law (though not being myself under the law) that I might win those under the law. To those outside the law I became as one outside the law (not being outside the law of God but under the law of Christ) that I might win those outside the law. To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some. I do it all for the sake of the gospel, that I may share with them in its blessings.

Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.