Joy In
Heaven
“I say to you that likewise there will be more joy in heaven over one
sinner who repents than over ninety-nine just persons who need no repentance.”
Luke 15:7
In Luke chapter 15 Jesus tells three parables that deal with
something or someone being lost and then being found or restored. The context
of these parables is set forth in verses 1-2: “Then all the tax collectors and
the sinners drew near to Him to hear Him. And the Pharisees and the scribes
complained saying, ‘This Man receives sinners and eats with them.’” I think I
can speak for both myself and everyone else when I say that I am certainly glad
that Jesus receives sinners because I am one. The Apostle Paul affirms this
same truth in Romans 3:23, “…for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of
God.” It makes no difference whether we are male or female, Jew or Gentile,
Black or White, Democrat or Republican, American, European, Asian, Middle
Eastern or some other nationality; we are all sinners in need of a savior.
Burton Coffman makes this comment on these parables:
There are four ways to become lost,
and all of them are evident in this remarkable sermon. The sheep was lost by
wandering away from the flock, the coin was lost through no fault of its own,
but through the inability or carelessness of the woman. The prodigal was lost
by overt and willful disobedience; and the elder brother was lost through
pride, selfishness, and self-righteousness.
While we could explore these avenues of man’s fallen nature,
most of us are painfully aware of our own weaknesses and our seeming inability
to lift ourselves up. It is helpful to recognize our fatal flaw, if we, like
the Prodigal, come to ourselves and realize that our remedy is in the Father’s
House. There is more power in understanding that the Father’s House is our only
salvation than there is in all the will power and self-help that we can muster.
Humility is one of the first mile markers along the road to recovery.
One of the ideas that is so striking in these parables is
the joy in heaven over a repentant sinner. We may illustrate this sense of joy
with the story of Jacob (Israel) and his son Joseph. Can you imagine the joy
and delight that Jacob felt when he was reunited with this son that he thought
was dead and gone forever. Jacob by this time had eleven other sons and he, no
doubt, loved them. It wasn’t the fact that he didn’t love his other sons or
that he was not appreciative of what a blessing eleven sons are. It was the
sheer joy of one lost and then found, one dead but come back to life. In fact,
this is the very language that the Father uses in the Parable of the Prodigal
Son, as he pleads with the Elder Brother to join in the celebration.
It is so obvious that perhaps we overlook it. The Father
longs for us to return. He delights in the repentance of even one sinner. This
should be incentive enough for us to want to return. God loves us and is not
willing that anyone should perish…not even me! The Devil is crafty and he would
like for us to think that we are beyond repair. He keeps telling us that we are
unlovable, unredeemable and no one cares. But the Devil is lying again. In the
words of the song by Frank E. Graeff (1901), “O yes, He cares; I know He cares,
His heart is touched with my grief.” When we grieve over our sin and lost
relationship, Jesus cares and He longs for us to come home.
-Scott Gage
Fayetteville, Arkansas
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