Mr. Calvin's Thoughts on the Lost Sheep

Matthew 18:12-14 (ESV)
What do you think? If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them has gone astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine on the mountains and go in search of the one that went astray? And if he finds it, truly, I say to you, he rejoices over it more than over the ninety-nine that never went astray. So it is not the will of my Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish.

I had always thought that this passage was talking about people who had not come to Christ. So, I finally convinced myself to look up Calvin's commentary online. Here is what he had to say about it because he speaks much more intelligently than myself.

"Christ therefore intended to show that a good teacher ought not to labor less to recover those that are lost, than to preserve those which are in his possession; though according to Matthew the comparison proceeds farther, and teaches us not only that we ought to treat with kindness the disciples of Christ, but that we ought to bear with their imperfections, and endeavor, when they wander, to bring them back to the road. For, though they happen sometimes to wander, yet as they are sheep over which God has appointed his Son to be shepherd, so far are we from having a right to chase or drive them away roughly, that we ought to gather them from their wanderings; for the object of the discourse is to lead us to beware of losing what God wishes to be saved The narrative of Luke presents to us a somewhat different object. It is, that the whole human race belongs to God, and that therefore we ought to gather those that have gone astray, and that we ought to rejoice as much, when they that are lost return to the path of duty, as a man would do who, beyond his expectation, recovered something the loss of which had grieved him." (Commentary on Matthew, Mark, Luke - Volume 2)

So, where is the fine line between outreach and discipleship. We are called to reach out to those who have not heard or have not accepted the Gospel as truth. But here we are also called to be ready to bring those who have accepted the Gospel as truth but have walked away from the truth for a time. Churches today focus really well on training and teaching those who are already in the church. Outreach usually takes a backseat to inreach. So, how can a church remain on guard to balancing outreach and discipleship? Because there has to be a balance. Both are needed.