WEDNESDAY January 15th
Luke 15:4-7
‘“What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open country, and go after the one that is lost, until he finds it? And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbours, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.’ Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.’”
I have referenced this parable many times as I have prepared the devotions, and when preaching, obviously it has a farming theme, which was my background growing up, but more importantly they were the verses that were being preached from when I came to faith as a nine-year-old one Sunday evening. But even more important is the meaning of the parable, that Christ Jesus came to seek and to save those who are lost. And that is every single one of us!
In Hebrews 12 we read this concerning Jesus, ‘who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God’, (verse 2).
Salvation is about God’s love, it is about knowing peace and forgiveness, but it is also most definitely all about joy! The night that Jesus was born, angels announced to the shepherds that they had come to bring good news of great joy to all people.
Now whatever the joy is that is talked about in Hebrews concerning Jesus, I believe that it not only included the joy of fulfilling the mission that he had come into the world to undertake, it also included the joy of being exalted to the highest place and I believe it also includes the joy that Jesus himself experiences as he sees lost sinners being found, as one by one men and women come to Calvary, repent and trust in all that he has done for them.
But not only is Jesus filled with joy, the parable indicates that Jesus will call those who are in heaven with him (the friends and neighbours in the parable) which I assume will be the heavenly host and together they will rejoice over every sinner that comes to repentance.
Yes, when I came to faith as a nine-year-old lad, the good Shepherd rejoiced and all of heaven rejoiced with him for a lost sheep had been found! and the same for that moment when each one of you who reads this devotion came to faith. Heaven was filled with great joy.
In yesterday’s devotion I suggested that we learn to love as Jesus loves, today, can I challenge us all, myself included to make 2025 a year where we will do all we can to share the good news to those around us so that it will be a year of great rejoicing in heaven over sinners who will come to repentance, over lost sheep being found and brought into the safety of the fold of God.