1 to 99: A Losing Score

 

1 to 99. A losing score

           (c) 2023 Mary Ann Wray

1 to 99 is a losing score for any sports team; a real losing score. A tally like that would bring shame and embarrassment, not only to the players but its coach. It would look like they didn’t know the rules of the game much less know how to play. They’d probably want to quit after a few big losses and the coach would end up getting fired. One loss may not be a big deal but if it happened repeatedly the gavel of judgment would fall, not on the team members but the coach. The team itself would be humiliated and discredited.

My high school football team had a reputation like that. Of course, football scores are calculated differently, but the principle is the same. They couldn’t win a game no matter how hard they tried, how much they practiced, or what coach they had. In High School, we loved going to Friday night football games for the socialization and adrenaline rush it provided but we were embarrassed week after week over the losses.  Even though other teams called our team losers, the Tigers kept on playing without improving. They’d win a few games here and there but their reputation as losers stuck with them. For some odd reason this pattern of losses over wins continued for years long after I graduated.

By worldly standards, having a team with repeated losing scores brings a lot of ridicule. But Jesus doesn’t keep score the same way the world and man does. He’s not interested in numbers. He cares about individual souls. Yes, God desires that everyone be saved, but He will go to great lengths to reach one soul. Look at the Woman at the Well, Mary Magdalene with seven demons, the woman with the issue of blood, the 38 year paraplegic by the pool of Bethesda, Peter who betrayed Him three times and the demoniac chained to tombstones in a Gadarene graveyard. He doesn’t quit on us.  

In fact, Jesus taught that a good shepherd will leave a flock of 99 to go after the one who has gone astray (Matthew 18: 12). This kind of wandering sheep would be considered a loser by a goat if a goat could ‘reason’, and a real tasty dinner by a ravenous wolf looking for an opportunity to seize his prey. Today it seems that many forget about straying, hurting sheep. They are more than content with their flocks of 99. After all, sheep provide wool, milk, cheese and revenue. Having a large herd of sheep seems much more successful than having one or two of them grazing in your field.

Observation and experience has taught me that it takes a personal sacrifice of time and sometimes resources to minister to the one.  It requires humility and giving up the ‘pride of life.’ Plus, there’s no guarantee of return on the investment of time, prayer and counsel. One has to give up selfish ambitions to care about a person who has lost their way not once, or twice but perhaps many times. Who will go after the one(s) then? Every one of us who are saved from our sins have been given the ministry of reconciliation (2 Corinthians 5: 18-20).

Holding a position or title is not what makes a person a good shepherd for souls. Being an effective ambassador for Christ, reconciling men to God, requires taking on His attitude and having His heart for people. Jesus was not arrogant, boastful or proud about His spiritual stature. Jesus left the glory of Heaven to take on the form an obedient servant. Jesus, laid aside His Heavenly agenda, so to speak, and became a human tempted in every way as we yet fully Divine.  Going after the one doesn’t do anything to build up your reputation, name, or ministry. It will go unnoticed by everyone but God.

“Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant…” Philippians 2: 4-7 ESV

The other side of going after hurting sheep is you can have good intentions of helping them but that person may lash out at you. You can get "hooved" back because they were too injured to respond the way you had hoped. 

Maybe you gave them a lot of time and personal resources but you didn’t ‘see’ any immediate change or spiritual fruit. Perhaps they gave up in life and were severely injured by other relationships and those in authority by the time you came around. Perhaps they had deep rejection issues and didn’t want to be helped by you only to be let down again. That’s where humility and prayer come in. Everything we do for others must point them back to Christ, not us. If we’re looking for followers rather than making disciples for Jesus, we are yet too vainglorious to care about the condition of another’s soul. We need to be purified from this vanity. God gives the increase and gets all the glory, not us.

Only Jesus can restore a soul but a good earthly shepherd knows how to lead a sheep back to its Master. You must understand the mercy of God and the fact He is married to the backslider (Jeremiah 3: 14). It requires patience while the Holy Spirit works in their lives and in their hearts. We can do nothing to make them change. Only Jesus can. He is The Way to the Father-not rules, a church, or a denomination, or a movement. Mercy, love and compassion is what Christ expects of us. I’m afraid today we see a lot of what was going on in Jesus’ day with the Pharisees He confronted and conflicted with. (Ezekiel 34: 1-6). If we are honest with ourselves, we’ve been guilty of the some of the same sins and hypocrisy.

There’s no tangible return of your investment of time and reward now. However, rescuing one soul is more important to Christ than having a flock of wealth.  Jesus also said, “Where your treasure is there your heart will also be.” Matthew 6: 21. We don’t have to be a pastor of a church or a leader in a denomination to be a shepherd to someone who has lost their way. Lost friends, loved ones, co-workers and strangers you may meet are worth saving. Will you drop what you’re doing to go after the one for Christ?