Luke 15:1-10
Now the tax collectors and sinners were all gathering around to hear Jesus. 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. Doesn’t he 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.
8 “Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins and loses one. Doesn’t she light a lamp, sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it? 9 And when she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost coin.’ 10 In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”
As my kids grew up and I returned from a mission trip and reported on all the people that got saved, we would have an angel party. We would go buy a piñata, stuff it with candy, play Spanish Christian music, do the limbo, buy a cake or make an angel food cake and celebrate. It's the best we could come up with to celebrate with the angels for all the people that got saved on the mission trip. This passage says, " there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents", and we wanted to rejoice, too. I just returned from our church's mission trip to Panama, and I am not sure of the final number, but at least 50 prayed to receive Christ. What a reason to celebrate! I am now thinking about and planning an angel party for my four grandkids to teach them this principle and just also show them the joy of fulfilling The Great Commission. Let me tell you one story about a couple of lost coins that were found.
I was at the clinic in La Laguna and a man from the neighborhood got me and asked if we could come see a man at his house who just had surgery and was having great pain. We piled in the Kia after gathering some supplies. I got in the back seat and the driver told me to move to the front, which was funny because I had just done the team's devotion the other night on Luke 14:7-11 which was about taking the lesser seat rather than the best so your host could call you up to the better seats and then you would be honored. We went past a river
down a gravel road where we were blocked by a horse
we parked the car and walked a quarter mile
where we entered the very dark house. I put on my headlight and examined the man who had an indwelling catheter and was probably having some infection from that. We gave him antibiotics and pain medicine and muscle rub (people love Tiger Balm all over the world) and then I asked him if he was a Christian? He said, "no", and I asked him if I could tell him what a Christian is. He agreed so I started drawing the bridge diagram on a gauze wrapper but my pen went right through it. They brought me a daily planner and I drew the bridge diagram and explained, through my interpreter Oto, that trusting in Jesus' death on the cross by faith is the only thing that takes our sin away and restores our relationship with Christ as we cross from death to life.
I asked him and his wife who was listening, if they would like to ask Jesus into their heart to forgive their sins. They both said yes immediately. Oto led them in prayer and they prayed to receive Christ!! I was pretty sure I heard an angel party going on! We encouraged him to join the local evangelical fellowship which meets in a home nearby (there is a parcel of land nearby to build a church but costs $25,000 for 1/4 acre although Scott McCarter assures us it "percs" well) and to read his Bible starting in John. Also we encouraged him to get baptized to let his neighbors know that he and his wife are new people - born again.
Isn't this reason to celebrate? I hope to hang out with these two for all eternity and have them meet me in Heaven when I get there, although I will probably beat them there. This is why we go on these trips. Yes we go to fulfill the Matthew 25 passage about doing unto the least of these but if you don't give them eternal life, it's sort of like sewing a gunshot wound closed without fixing the bleeding inside or like playing music on the Titanic - it doesn't do a whole lot of good.
Lord, thank you for my church that gives me an opportunity to give people the healing that lasts forever. Help me not to just go overseas to do this but also in my own town in my own language. Let me add another one to your kingdom today through Your Holy Spirit. Amen
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