Easter Is for Black Sheep
Black sheep are often disparaged, shunned, and avoided. 
Yet God did just the opposite. He loved us so much, and yes, we all are black sheep in God’s family, that He sent His Son to die in our place and He was raised from the dead as a guarantee of our eternal salvation. This is the message of Easter and our pastors at Flatland Church were the ones that preached on the black sheep.
Be sure to listen to the podcast to get the full sermon. I will not be posting my sermon notes as usual but here is a quick summary. God loves black sheep, He hates so called white sheep – white sheep being those who go through all the motions of religion but have no relationship with the Father (see Matt 23). Be a redeemed black sheep, not a pretender white sheep. I really loved one of Pastor Bart’s statements, “Jesus was the ultimate black sheep.” He was a black sheep to all the religious leaders of his day. He was a black sheep to all the peple that were religious. Yet, He was the perfect, blameless white sheep offered up on the cross. He was perfectly acceptible to God the Father as the sacrifice to take away the sins of the world. He rescued us black sheep.
Ok. I had to laugh a bit because I suppose no one would consider me to be a black sheep. I didn’t rebel against God, go off and do all kind of wickedness or anything like that. Yet in my own way, I did rebel. I rebelled against the pretenders, the white washed graves that called themselves Christians but were really about the do’s and don’ts and not about having a relationship with God. This is exactly what Pastor Bart said he did too. Maybe that is why I appreciate a lot of what Pastor Bart says and does.
We all are black sheep when it comes to our Heavenly Father. We all have gone astray. No matter how hard we try (perfect religiosity included), we can never turn our black wool into pure white. And the wonderous thing is, God doesn’t expect us to! He knows we can not and often don’t even realize we need to. Yet there God is, with arms open wide inviting us back to Him through His Son.
I guess I have always felt a bit of a black sheep when it comes to God. I don’t feel that I can ever be worthy of His love, never can be good enough to enter His presence. And so, the message of Easter, that Jesus died and rose for me ever before I was born that I might enter into God’s presence blameless… well, it floors me. It is something I am so thankful for.