SERMON: THE IMPORTANCE OF IMAGINARY NUMBERS

THE IMPORTANCE OF IMAGINARY NUMBERS
31 August 2008

I. Introduction
-- turn in Bibles to Luke 15

1. Now the tax collectors and "sinners" were all gathering around to hear him.
2. But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, "This man welcomes sinners and eats with them."
3. Then Jesus told them this parable:
4. "Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Does he not leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it?
5. And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders
6. and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, `Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.'
7. I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.

-- this morning, we are going to finish up our series on God as our math teacher -- so far, we have talked about how we can't add anything to our salvation and how God has provided all we need through Jesus to be saved
-- then we talked about how God can subtract our sorrows -- how He can give us hope and joy even in the most sorrowful times of life
-- after that we talked about how Jesus brings division -- how the Word of God divides families and communities and churches
-- and, finally, we talked about how anyone can multiply with God -- about growing the kingdom of God through God's grace and mercy
-- this morning, we are going to close this series by looking at how God's math is different from our math -- how in God's math numbers that are imaginary to us are the most important to Him
-- so, the title of my message this morning is, "The Importance of Imaginary Numbers"

-- several years ago I was invited to speak on careers in wildlife biology at a high school -- and I was there telling a group of juniors and seniors about my job and what I did and then I started talking about the educational requirements to go into the field of wildlife biology
-- one of the students asked me, "Well, how important is math?" -- and I knew I was being set up, but I went ahead and played along -- "Math is very important for wildlife biology," I said -- "You have to calculate proper dosages of drugs to capture wild animals -- you need to know statistics in order to quantify what is going on with wildlife populations -- things like that"
-- and then he asked, "What about imaginary numbers? -- how often do you use them?" -- and I had to laugh, because I knew what he was talking about
-- when I was his age in school and learning about math, they tried to teach us about imaginary numbers, too -- and, with apologies to any mathematicians that might be here this morning, that was one of the stupidest things I had ever heard
-- imaginary numbers -- I understood real numbers -- I may not have liked learning about them, but I knew that we needed to know how to do math in order to live and to work and to be successful in this world -- I had no real problem with learning how to do math with real numbers
-- but having to learn about imaginary numbers -- numbers that didn't even exist -- numbers that were made up by some guy back in the 16th century -- I just didn't understand that at all
-- it may be important for some fields like quantum mechanics and electrical engineering, but for a farmer or for a wildlife biologist -- which is what I wanted to be -- they had no meaning at all

-- well, in recent years, my eyes have been opened to the importance of the imaginary, especially in our spiritual lives -- I think that for most of us the word "imaginary" has a negative connotation -- in that anything that is imaginary is not real -- and that is true to a great extent
-- as the dictionary defines it, something imaginary is something that we think exists, even though it may not have a direct counterpart at the physical level -- in other words, it is something that we believe in or that we picture in our minds that is not real -- at least, not real physically in this world -- it is not something that we can touch or hold or even see
-- but isn't that the definition of faith? -- being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see -- believing in that which is not real in a physical sense -- but that we know exists anyway
-- think about it like this -- no one in here has ever physically seen God -- no one in here has ever physically touched God -- yet we believe in Him -- we know He exists because we have pictured Him with our imaginations -- we have read His message in the Bible -- we have seen the evidence of His passing in this land -- and even though we can't point to Him and say, "There He is," we believe in Him nonetheless
-- we know God through our imagination -- through our hearts -- through our experiences with Him -- through our faith

-- so, what in the world do imaginary numbers and our imaginations have to do with the parable of the lost sheep? -- everything -- because this parable makes no sense if we only look at it in our physical reality
-- let's look back at this passage again and see what we might learn about God's use of the imaginary in our lives and what lesson He might want us to see in this passage

II. Scripture Lesson -- The Parable of the Lost Sheep
-- look at verse 3

3. Then Jesus told them this parable:
4. "Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Does he not leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it?

-- Jesus begins this parable by asking the question, "If you have 100 sheep and one of them gets lost, don't you leave the 99 out in the open and then go and search for the one that you lost?" -- and my response has always been, "No, of course not"
-- in the church, of course, we spiritualize this and we say, "Jesus is saying that we need to go out and look for the lost sheep" -- and that's all well and good -- but are we reading into this parable what we want it to say?
-- if you look at this parable from a biological or agricultural point of view, this parable just doesn't make any sense -- it's not what we do in the real world
-- think about it for a moment -- when I was in wildlife school, I was taught that the population was more important than the individual -- in other words, it didn't matter if one deer got hit by a car or one deer got killed by a hunter provided that the whole herd -- the whole population -- wasn't declining -- we were more worried about the 99 than the one that got killed
-- the same holds true for agriculture or for ranching -- let's say that a farmer has planted a field of squash -- now if one squash plant in that field gets sick and starts to die, the farmer doesn't stand around and cry -- if he has one plant in a field of 100 that gets sick, he doesn't worry about it -- because he's more concerned with the entire field than the single individual -- it's only when most of the plants start getting sick or most of the plants start dying that he starts to worry and starts to do something about it -- whether it's spraying chemicals or adding fertilizer or changing his irrigation
-- the same is true with cattle -- you get one sick calf out of a herd of 100 calves, you're not going to be greatly worried -- you'll do what you need to do in order to take care of it -- but you're not going to neglect the rest of the herd to take care of one calf -- you're not going to go out and risk the 99 that you still have in order to save the one
-- and that's why this parable really doesn't make much sense
-- why in the world would a shepherd leave 99 sheep out in the open -- unguarded and unprotected -- and go off and look for one lost sheep
-- why risk something coming in and getting the other 99? -- wolves -- predators -- thieves -- all kind of things could come in
-- wouldn't it be better to just say, "Well, I lost one, but I've still got 99 left?" -- honestly, isn't that what you would do? -- it's what I would do -- and that's why this parable doesn't make any sense -- any shepherd worth his salt would know that what Jesus is talking about is not natural -- it's out of the ordinary -- it's not real

-- so, if it's not natural -- if it's not ordinary -- if it's not real -- then what is it?
-- that's where God's imaginary numbers come in -- for some reason, in God's math, this one sheep is more valuable than the other 99 -- in Jesus' parable, it doesn't matter what happens to the 99 sheep -- it doesn't matter if a wolf comes in and devours them -- it doesn't matter if lightning strikes them standing out in the open field and kills them all -- it doesn't matter if thieves try to sneak in and steal them -- because in this parable, the one which is lost is more valuable than all the others combined
-- now the only way this parable can make any sense at all is if Jesus is not talking about reality -- about something that we can see and that we know exists -- but something that is invisible to our physical eyes -- something that is imaginary in that it can't be touched or seen or felt

-- look back at verse 3

3. Then Jesus told them this parable:
4. "Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Does he not leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it?
5. And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders
6. and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, `Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.'
7. I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.

-- o.k. -- now we've got a little bit more of the picture -- Jesus tells us here that this parable is about a lost sinner who repents and comes to Him for salvation -- so what He's talking about here is the spiritual state of the sheep -- He's talking about their soul -- not their lives
-- Jesus tells us that the lost sheep is a sinner -- so, what are the 99 that He leaves out in the open? -- well, by inference, you would have to assume that they are saved -- their eternal destinies are set -- they are sinners who have repented and have received forgiveness for their sins by faith through grace
-- and that's why it doesn't matter whether He leaves the 99 sheep alone in the open or not -- it doesn't matter if they live or die -- it doesn't matter what happens to their physical bodies in this physical reality -- because what is important is the state of their souls, not what happens to them here
-- when you look at it that way, this parable makes perfect sense, doesn't it? -- but, if that's the case, then why aren't we obeying the principles that this parable teaches?

-- first, this parable teaches that the most important part of a person is their soul -- but we tend to put more importance on the life of a person
-- let's say that you leave here today and you witness a car wreck in front of you -- person's trapped in their car and it's on fire -- you know it's about to blow -- so what do you do? -- you try to get that person out -- but the door won't open -- you have to break the glass, but you know it might cut you and it might them -- do you do it? -- sure
-- and then you try to pull the person out but their caught under the steering wheel -- their leg is trapped and the car's about to blow up -- the only way to get them out is to break their leg -- do you do it? -- yeah -- you don't want to -- you know it'll hurt -- but you do it because you're trying to save their life [Illustration from Jay Cardee sermon]
-- now, I want you to think about something and I want you to be real honest with yourself -- how many people did you witness to this week? -- how many people did you tell about Jesus?
-- you see, we put more importance on the life of a person than we do their soul -- Jesus said He would leave the 99 saved sheep out in the field -- He didn't care if they lived or died because their eternal destinies were set -- He'd leave them there and He would go out and hunt for the one that was lost and that was going to go to hell
-- but we don't do that, do we? -- we really aren't putting a great importance on the souls of those we pass by every day -- and that leads us to the second point

-- the 99 sheep in this parable are saved -- they are a group of saved people -- what do we call a group of saved people? -- the church -- and what should be the focus of the church? -- going out and looking for the lost sheep
-- that's what Jesus did -- and that's what we should do, too -- Jesus didn't sit there with the church and wait for the lost sheep to wander in -- He got up and went out and He actively tried to find it -- that's the purpose of the church -- that should be our overarching goal and purpose -- to find the lost sinner and lead them to repentance through Jesus, our shepherd
-- look back at verse 1

1. Now the tax collectors and "sinners" were all gathering around to hear him.
2. But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, "This man welcomes sinners and eats with them."

-- the whole reason why Jesus preached this parable was because the religious crowd of His day -- the Pharisees and the teachers of the law -- were complaining because Jesus was associating with tax collectors and sinners -- not only were they not going out and searching for the lost sheep, they complained about the One who was
-- as the church of Christ we are called to go out and search for the lost sheep -- to search the highways and the byways for the lost soul -- for the person who is going to hell -- and tell them about the salvation that we have found through Jesus

III. Closing
-- Evangelist Ray Comfort shared about a conversation that he had with an atheist -- he had been talking with the atheist and trying to witness to him -- he had shared with him the truth of the gospel and the truth of heaven and hell
-- one day, the atheist went by a fire and watched as a fireman sat in the front of the truck with headphones on listening to a CD while his fellow firefighters ran into a burning building to rescue people who were trapped inside -- the atheist thought about everything that Ray had been telling him and then sent him an e-mail
-- this is an excerpt of the e-mail to Ray from the atheist: "You are really convinced that you've got all the answers. You've really got yourself tricked into believing that you're 100% right. Well, let me tell you just one thing. Do you consider yourself to be compassionate of other humans? If you're right, as you say you are, and you believe that, then how can you sleep at night? When you speak with me, you are speaking with someone who you believe is walking directly into eternal damnation, into an endless onslaught of horrendous pain which your 'loving' God created, yet you stand by and do nothing"
-- "If you believed one bit that thousands every day were falling into an eternal and unchangeable fate, you should be running the streets mad with rage at their blindness. That's equivalent to standing on a street corner and watching every person that passes you walk blindly directly into the path of a bus and die, yet you stand idly by and do nothing. You're just twiddling your thumbs, happy in the knowledge that one day that 'walk' signal will shine your way across the road."
-- "Think about it. Imagine the horrors Hell must have in store if the Bible is true. You're just going to allow that to happen and not care about saving anyone but yourself? If you're right, then you're an uncaring, unemotional and purely selfish (expletive) that has no right to talk about subjects such as love and caring."

-- this parable may be about the imaginary -- about the souls and the spirits that we can't see -- about the eternal destination of a lost sheep -- but it is a very real indictment on the church in America today
-- we spend our time focused on time -- we spend our lives focused on life -- and we let our neighbors and our friends and our families speed right on to hell -- all because we won't go and search for them and bring them home to God
-- as I close this morning, I want to leave you with this challenge -- I want you to read this parable one time each day for the next seven days -- and as you read it, I want you to pray that God would lead you to the lost sheep in your life -- that He would show you how to reach your lost sheep -- and that He would help you to remember to focus on what is truly important -- not the reality of life here on earth -- but eternity with Him in heaven
-- let us pray