Talk Together
Family conversations with God’s Word.
Have you ever been lost? What did it feel like? How did you find your way?
Being lost is a scary feeling. It’s hard to know which path to take, who to ask for help or what to do next. When the Bible talks about someone being lost, it doesn’t mean you need GPS or a map to guide you. The Bible uses the word “lost” to talk about people who wandered far away from God and were lost because of their sin.
When God created the first people, they lived with Him in the garden of Eden. They knew God’s voice and spent time with Him. They lived in perfect fellowship with Him. But soon, Adam and Eve sinned, they disobeyed God, and this broke their fellowship with Him. They were lost; they had wandered away from God just like a sheep that wanders away from its shepherd.
From the very beginning, God had a plan to give His people a Savior, a Shepherd who would lead them back to Him. Many years after the Garden of Eden, God’s people, the Israelites, were not following God. They were wandering far away from Him and were lost in sin*. But a special messenger of God, a prophet named Ezekiel, told the people that God wouldn’t let them stay lost forever. God would send a Shepherd to guide them back to Him. Let’s read about it in Ezekiel. Can you help me find Ezekiel chapter 34, verses 11-12? Ezekiel is in the Old Testament.
ESV
For thus says the Lord God: Behold, I, I Myself will search for My sheep and will seek them out. As a shepherd seeks out his flock when he is among his sheep that have been scattered, so will I seek out My sheep, and I will rescue them from all places where they have been scattered on a day of clouds and thick darkness.
When Jesus came to Earth hundreds of years after Ezekiel wrote these words, He fulfilled God’s promise to send a Shepherd to save His lost sheep*, the people who had wandered far away from Him and were lost in their sin. He did this for a man named Zacchaeus and he continues to do this today for people like you and me. Let’s read the story of what happened with Jesus and Zacchaeus. Can you help me find Luke 19, verses 1-10? Luke is in the New Testament and is one of the four Gospels.
ESV
He entered Jericho and was passing through. And behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus. He was a chief tax collector and was rich. And he was seeking to see who Jesus was, but on account of the crowd he could not, because he was small in stature. So he ran on ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see Him, for He was about to pass that way. And when Jesus came to the place, He looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down, for I must stay at your house today.” So he hurried and came down and received Him joyfully. And when they saw it, they all grumbled, “He has gone in to be the guest of a man who is a sinner.” And Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, “Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor. And if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I restore it fourfold.” And Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, since he also is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.
Zacchaeus wasn’t well-liked. He charged people too much money in taxes and was a greedy man. But when Jesus saw Zacchaeus, He saw one of His sheep, lost in sin. Instead of accusing or ignoring him, Jesus came near to him and even stayed in his home! When Zaccheaus came face to face with Jesus, he realized he was a sinner. Zaccheaus repented* of his sin and had a change of heart. He turned from his sin and toward following Christ’s ways.
We can also be lost and wander away from God. Sometimes we follow sin instead of following God’s ways. But Jesus, our Good Shepherd, loves and cares for us, just like a shepherd cares for his sheep. He loves and cares for us so much that He came to die on the cross for our sin, making our relationship right with God so we don’t have to be lost anymore. Jesus, our Good Shepherd, came to seek and save the lost (John 10:15).