Repent! Jesus came looking for you.

 

Sermon for Trinity 10, August 9, 2026

Grace, mercy, and peace from God our Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.  Amen.

Matthew 18:12-20  ¹²“What do you think?  If a man has a hundred sheep, and one of them wanders away, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills and go looking for the one that wandered away?  ¹³If he finds it—Amen I tell you—he rejoices more over that one sheep than over the ninety-nine that did not wander away.  ¹⁴In the same way, your Father in heaven does not want even one of these little ones to perish.  ¹⁵“If your brother sins against you, go and show him his sin just between the two of you.  If he listens to you, you have regained your brother.  ¹⁶But if he will not listen, take one or two others along with you, so that ‘every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.’  ¹⁷If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church.  And, if he refuses to listen even to the church, then treat him as an unbeliever or a tax collector.  ¹⁸Amen I tell you: Whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.  ¹⁹Amen I tell you again: If two of you on earth agree to ask for anything, it will be done for them by my Father who is in heaven.  ²⁰In fact where two or three have gathered together in my name, there I am among them.” (EHV)

Repent!  Jesus came looking for you.

Dear lambs of heaven’s flock,

            On our journey through the catechism, we have come to confession, and when we speak of confession, what we are really seeking is repentance.  Now, true repentance has two parts: first it consists of honestly confessing our sins, and in doing so the necessary second part is to trust in the forgiveness Jesus has won for you and for all on the cross.

Our sermon text comes as Jesus explains His concern for the “little ones” of faith.  Most often we associate “little ones” with children, but in the kingdom of heaven, it is safe to say that we are all children, and indeed, we are children of the heavenly Father, both, through creation and by the gift of faith through which He adopts us into His family.  On that basis, I can command and encourage you to Repent!  Jesus came looking for you.

Our text begins with a question for His disciples, “What do you think?  The question asks who did they think Jesus came to save?  The topic at hand was preservation of the faith of little children, and Jesus declared “Woe!” to anyone who might lead such a child of God astray.  Jesus wanted the crowd to understand His concern for all people.  There were many of His day, as there are in ours, who assumed children weren’t important enough to be a concern.  Consider the lack of love for children in our times that leads to the abortion of multitudes of babies, children abused by wicked individuals, and parents who don’t consider bringing children to Jesus through Baptism or instruction in the Word of God very important.  Woe to such ideas!

The fact of the matter is Jesus cares about the children, and that especially includes all those who have been made children of God by faith.  Jesus then tells a parable that clearly demonstrates His concern:

If a man has a hundred sheep, and one of them wanders away, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills and go looking for the one that wandered away?  If he finds it—Amen I tell you—he rejoices more over that one sheep than over the ninety-nine that did not wander away.  In the same way, your Father in heaven does not want even one of these little ones to perish. 

This was an obvious reference for the people that surrounded Jesus.  They were well familiar with shepherds and the value they placed on their flocks.  The history of Israel was filled with sheep and shepherds all the way back to Abraham.  Therefore, notice the details in this picture.  One hundred sheep.  The number one hundred could signify the whole flock regardless of the total number.  One strayed and was lost.  Again, the number one could be substituted for all of mankind.  This leaves the main point, Jesus left the flock of God in heaven to come to earth searching for those who had gone astray, which is the whole of mankind, including you and me and all the sceptics of His day.

Jesus was telling His hearers that He cares for every believer in His flock.  Now, I have heard some ask why a shepherd would leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness with all the dangers associated there?  Yet, Jesus says nothing that would indicate danger for the ninety-nine of His flock.  Thus, we could picture the ninety-nine as His flock already home in heaven.  Nothing could wrest them from the Father’s hand.  Therefore, Jesus, our Good Shepherd, came to earth to find strays like you and me.

Then, when we have been “found” by the proclamation of the Gospel and the washing miracle of Baptism, Jesus rejoices over every now saved soul, as does His Father and the whole host of heaven.  They all rejoiced when you were brought to believe in Jesus as your Savior.  The Father never tires of caring for you.  He never turns away from watching over you.  And should you or I go astray, God provides the people of His Church, His flock here on earth, to call you back into His care.

That brings us to the second part of this text, and the point of confession in the catechism.  Whenever the law of God convicts us of our sin, we are invited, encouraged, and even commanded to return to Jesus for forgiveness and life.  Apart from trusting in Jesus, there is only disaster and death.  St. Peter later wrote under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, “Therefore humble yourselves under God’s powerful hand so that he may lift you up at the appointed time.  Cast all your anxiety on him, because he cares for you.  Have sound judgment.  Be alert.  Your adversary, the Devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour.” (1 Peter 5:6-8)

Now, you and I all know that our sinful nature doesn’t like to be confronted with the Law.  The mirror of the law makes us look ugly both to God and to ourselves.  That is the law’s intended purpose, to show us how badly our guilt corrupts the image of God in which we were created.  At the same time, Jesus says, “If your brother sins against you, go and show him his sin just between the two of you.  If he listens to you, you have regained your brother.” 

By calling us brothers, Jesus is showing that this teaching concerns believers.  Obviously, the world is completely corrupt, but the people of the world are not the focus in this text.  That doesn’t mean we should ignore them, just they are not the focus here.  There are plenty other places where Jesus tells us to make disciples for Him in this world, but here He is showing His concern for those He has already won into God’s favor.  He wants us all to remain in that love.

Therefore, when confronted with our sin, whether we identify it ourselves or someone else has to call our attention to it, the proper response is confession of our sins and true repentance which is turning back to Jesus and trusting His sacrifice for you.  Christ lived and died and rose again so that we are counted as holy ones before God.  Jesus wants to keep us there.  For this reason, we have confession in our worship services, so that we may confess every sin and fault, every shortcoming and failure that troubles us.  And after the confessing of our sins, we hear again and again the gracious forgiveness of our Savior who took away all our guilt and shame.

But, what about that sinning believer who refuses to listen to you.  Jesus lays out the path we are to follow to bring that lost lamb back into the flock on His behalf.  When we have gone to that wandering soul personally and privately, but without achieving repentance, then Jesus tells us, “But if he will not listen, take one or two others along with you, so that ‘every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.’  If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church.  And, if he refuses to listen even to the church, then treat him as an unbeliever or a tax collector.” 

In our church practices, we often call this process Church discipline which in the case of one who refuses to repent leads to excommunication.  Sometimes, people think of excommunication as punishment, but it is never intended to punish the sinner.  It is not intended to indicate that any particular sin is worse than what any of us do on a daily basis.  Excommunication is the final step of calling the sinner to repentance.  If all else fails in trying to bring that lost lamb back into the fold, it ultimately leads to recognition that the unrepentant person has rejected Christ to follow the ways of the devil and this world.  It is a sad and serious thing which is why God never desires this for anyone.

Finally, we receive Jesus’ promise, “Amen I tell you: Whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.  Amen I tell you again: If two of you on earth agree to ask for anything, it will be done for them by my Father who is in heaven.  In fact where two or three have gathered together in my name, there I am among them.”  By the grace of our loving God, He gives the Church the authority to forgive sins and to offer the comfort of God’s love to all who repent.  If two or three witnesses find the sinner repentant, Jesus stands with us in declaring that lamb found and forgiven.  At the same time, Jesus is also right there with us even when the unrepentant soul is declared lost. 

This is one more reason why attendance in God’s house of worship is so important.  Here, our Savior gathers with us through the power of His Word and Sacraments.  Here, He offers us His body and blood and with that precious food forgiveness and life in His heavenly home.  Here, He empowers our ability to repent of our sins and failures, and here, He declares us righteous before God through faith in His life, death, and resurrection.

Dear friends, through this parable, Jesus is calling for you to hear His voice calling out to you in the wilderness of this world, calling for you to return to Him daily in confession of your sins.  He is calling and inviting us to have the same concern for our fellow members of His kingdom.  We are not to be self-righteously accusing others as if we haven’t sinned.  Rather, Jesus invites us, who have been found and forgiven, to love our fellow believers even when we must call them back to the narrow way of faith in Jesus which leads to life in heaven. 

Every child of God is dear to Him.  How much did God care for you?  So much so that He sent His Son, Jesus, into the world to suffer the trials and pains of this corrupted life and then the shame and death our guilt deserved.  Through Jesus’ holy life and death on the cross, you and I were made righteous before God.  He now calls to us again and again, Repent!  For Jesus came looking for you.  Amen.

How blessed is everyone who fears the LORD, everyone who is walking in His ways.  Amen.